
■'■'"■V" ^-^s^"^ •* 













^•^ -^^ 





OLD MILL, IN WARWICKSHIRE. ENGLAND. 



THE 



; 

TOUCHING THE 

OLD ^TONE MILL, 

IN THE TOWN OF 

NEWPORT, 

RHODE - ISLAND. 



WITB: remarks. mTRODUCTORY AKTD COIvrCLUSIYR 

NEWPORT : •^^^Washi'^'^^^ 
CHARLES E. HAMMETT, JR. 
MDCCCLI. 



PRINTER 

KEWPORT, R. L 

f %^ 



PART I ; 

INTRODUCTION. 



It is well known to the travelling public, and, through 
them, to many others, that there stands, on a beautiful 
and breezy hill, in the ancient and historical town of 
Newport, at the southern end of Rhode Island, a sin- 
gular stone structure, which has, from an immemorial 
period, defied alike the tooth of time and the wits of 
antiquarians. It is variously called the Round Tower, 
the Newport Ruin and the Old Stone Mill. Some years 
ago it had become celebrated as the central object of 
certain scenes in Cooper's Red Rover, and, within a 
few years^ the popularity of Newport, as a summer re* 
sort, has made it almost the first question put to any 
one who goes from here to other parts of the country, 
'' What do you make of that old stone mill?" 

Concerning the origin and object of this unique 
structure, there are, at home and abroad, divers con- 
jectures. Probably ninety-nine hundredths (we had 
almost said nine hundred and ninety-nine thousandths) 
of the Newport people are satisfied that it is " nothing 
but an old stone mill," though, perhaps, we ought to 
say that some think it may have been originally intended 
for a look-out, or a retreat and fortress, or perhaps for 
a mill, fort and watch-tower, all together. But while 
the inhabitants regard it as the substructure of a grist- 
mill, the society of Danish antiquarians at Copenhagen 
have published a learned dissertation to show that it 
was probably the superstructure of a baptistery,, con- 
nected with a Church which, it would seem, was to have 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

been erected on the spot, or went to ruin, after it was 
erected, by the Northmen, who are believed to have 
visited Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the 10th 
century. This, of course, is regarded by the Newport- 
ers as a Quixotic tilt at their old wind-mill, and one 
of them is disposed to hum to himself something 
in the style of a venerable Lilliputian Quarto, familiar 
to our infancy : — 

There was an Old Mill, that stood on a liill, 1 
And while it stands there, it stands there still. 
That's the Old iMill of which they tell lies^ 
Jump into briars and scratch out then' eyes, 
And then go home and tliiuk they're wondi-ous wisa 

However, it will have to be admitted, v,e think, that 
there has been a little too much confidence, in many 
quarters, as to the age, authorship and design of this 
strange relic ; that (to borrow a word from Bailey's 
Festus) this instoned mystery will not soon, if ever, be 
solved ; that this is one of the hardest nuts, that Father 
Time ever gave his antiq^uarian children to crack. 
If the old curiosity was here when the first settlers 
came in 1638, it seems almost unaccountable that they 
should not have left several allusions to it, some one of 
which, indirectly, should have escaped the destruction 
of records : and, on the other hand, if they or their 
children built it, as there is no evidence that it was 
according to a then common style of building, it would 
seem strange, again, that it passed without notice. It 
is contended, however, by many Newport people, (how 
plausibly, the pages of this pamphlet must show,) that 
we have an implied account of its origin and object 
when we take, in connexion with trustworthy tradition, 
the words of an extant ancient document, tlie will of 
the first Charter Governor of the Colony. 

We propose, then, under these covers, partly for the 
sake of gratifying present curiosity, and partly as a con- 
tribution towards that so desirable work, the history of the 
quaint and memorable town of Newport, — to publish to- 
g3ther all the letters, newspaper articles and recorded doc- 
U-'uents we can find, which have been elicited by the Old 



II^TRODUCTIOK. 5 

Stone Mill controversy, with such oral traditions and 
reminiscences as may seem worth preserving in print. 

It may be well, before presenting these papers, to 
give a short summary, what the French might call an 
avant-rcsume, of the history of the controversy res- 
pecting the Newport Ruin (or, more properly, relic, for 
the stone work is probably as sound iis ever.) 

Some time in the year 1847 a communication, from 
some stranger, appeared in the Newport Blercury, ask- 
ing information about the origin, age and design of the 
so called Old Stone 31111. It was answered by some 
one in the Providence Journal, over the signature of 
"Antiquarian, Brown University," who, in a very ela- 
borate article, with the utmost gravity, proceeded to 
impose upon the innocent inquirer an alleged histori- 
cal statement, which we shall call the 3Iill Hoax ; for 
it is, as a historical humbug, paralleled only by the 
celebrated Moon Hoax, which our readers will remem- 
ber to have heard of, some years ago, by a (really) 
able mathematician in Nev\^ York. He gravely an- 
nounced, accompanying the statement with a long array 
of mathematical calculations, to show th-e a priori prob- 
ability of the fact, that Sir John Herschel had, at the 
Cape of Good Hope, by the aid of the latest improve- 
ments in the telescope, ascertained that any object 
which should cover an area of not less than a sq^inre 
mile m the moon could be now seen from the earth. 
With equal coolness our wag announced that, no longer 
ago than 1832, one Professor Scrobein, and other emi- 
nent men {of our own town,) dug round and under the 
old mill and satislied themselves and the Copenhagen 
Antiquarian Society that it was really a Scandinavian 
relic. ¥/e need not here anticipate any farther the 
reader of the correspondence itself, which grew out of 
this audacious waggery. One would have thought the 
very name of Scrobein (a sort of dog-German for a 
scratcher into the ground) would have thrown suspicion 
on the thing, but the name of Professor Graetz, con- 
nected with it, saved appearances very ingeniously. — 
We would mention here, that we ourselves^ before tha'^ 



(f IKTEODirCTION. 

publication, remember to have heard something about 
excavations having been made round the Old Mill,* and 
its having been ascertained that the pillars, after enter- 
ing the ground, converged, till the building stood, bow- 
legged, as it were, on a broad flat stone; and we recollect 
its being remarked that this was the strongest way of 
building a foundation. And we recollect thinking, too, 
that, perhaps, this flat stone might have served as the 
bottom of the baptizing font. Now either we dreamed 
this, or else the great historical hoax was already 
brewing in the atmosphere. 

It will be seen that Professor Rafn, in his reply to 
Mr. Melville's letter, speaks very cautiously about the 
Old Mill^ and says one ought to be on the spot to judge 
with any confidence as to what may be inferred from 
architectural appearances ; and he well might say this,, 
for in the drawing of the Mill which was sent to him, 
all the rough corners were carefully smoothed over, 
and the hip joints, so to speak, disappeared,, and the 
old elephant legs were dressed in nicely ironed pan- 
taloons. A similar misrepresentation may be seen in the 
Penny Magazint for February 1844. 

These mistakes were acknowledged in Dr, Webb's 
second communication to Prof. Rafn ; but there was 
a still greater misrepresentation left unacknowledged, 
namely, the statement that the stones in the ancient 
structure were " laid in regular courses." 

We cannot more appropriately close this introduction, 
and draw the curtain, as it were, over the Prologue of 
our book, than by quoting Mr. Longfellow's Poem. 

The Skeleton in •Mrnionr. 

[The folio-wing luillad was suggested to me while ricling on tho 
sea-shore at Newjiort. A yeai' or two pi-evious a skeleton had been 
dug up at Fall River, c\i\d in broken and coiToded armor ; jmd tlie 
idea oociuTed to me of connecting it with the Rovmd Tower at New^ 
I)ort, generally kno^\^l hitbeito jis the Old Windmill, though now 
claimed bv the Danes as a work of tbeii" eai-ly ancestors. 



* hi fact there must have been some digging, else how could Dr, 
Webb know that the pillars are siuik fcnir feet in the grouud ( 



INTRODUCTION. 



T will not enter iiito a disctission of tlie point It is sufficiently 
TV ell established for the pm-pose of a ballad ; though doubtless nu^ny 
nu honest citizen of JSTewport, who has passed his days within eight 
of the Round Tower, will be ready to exclaim with Sancho, — " God 
bless mc ! did I not warn you to have a care of v/hat you were 
doing, for that it was nothing but a windmiU; and nobody could 
xaiBtiike it, but one who had the like in his head."] — Atcthor'$ NotCv 

" Speak ! speali ! thou feai-fiil guest ! 
Who, with thy hollow breast 
Still in rude ai'mor drest, 

Coniest to daunt me \ 
Wrapt not in Eastern balnrw, 
But with thy fieshless palms 
Stretched, as if asking alms," 

Why dost thou haunt me ! " 

Then, from those cavernous eyes 
Pale flashes seemed to rise, 
As when tlie Northern skies 

Gleam in December ; 
And, like the water's flow 
Under December's snow, 
Came a dull voice of woe 

From the heart's chamber. 

" I was a Viking old I 
My deeds, though manifold, 
No Skald in song has told, 
No Saga taught thee ! 
Take heed, that in thy verse 
Thou dodt the tale rehearse, 
Else di'ead a dead man's curse ! 
For this I sought thee. 

" Far in the Northern Land, 
By the wild Baltic's strand, 
I, with my childish hand, 

Tamed the ger-falcon ; 
And, witli my skates fast boiind, 
Skimmeii the half-frozen Soua^I, 
Tliat the poor whimpering houu ! 

Trembled to walk on, 

" Oft to his frozen lair 
Tracked I the grisly bear, 
While from my path the hare 

Fled Itko a shadow ; 
Oft through the forest dark 



INTRODUCTION 

Followed the Were-wolf's bark, 
Until the soaring lark 
Saug fi-om the meadow. 

" But when I older grew, 
Joining a corsair's crew, 
O'er the dark sea I flew 

With the marauders. 
Wild was the Ufe we led ; 
Many the souls that sped, 
Many the hearts that bled, 

By oui- stem orders. 

" Many a Wassail-bout 
Wore the long winter out ; 
Often our midnight shout 

Set the cocks crowing, 
As we the Berserk's tale 
Measured in cups of ale, 
Draining the oaken pai!. 

Filled to o'erflowing. 

" Once as I told in glee 
Tales of the stormy sea, 
Soft eyes did gaze on me, 

Burning yet tender ; 
And as the white stars shine 
On the dark Norway pine, 
On that dark heart of mine 

Fell their soft splendor. 

''■ I wooed the blue-eyed maid, 
Yielding, yet half afraid. 
And in the forest's shade 

Om- vows were plighted. 
Under its loosened vest 
Fluttered her little breast, 
Like birds within then- nest 
By the hawk frighted. 

■' Bright in her father's hall 
Shields gleamed upon the wall. 
Loud sang the minstrels all, 

Chanting his gloiy ; 
When of old Hildebraud 
I a^ked his daughter's hand. 
Mute did the minstrels stand 

To hear my story. 



INTRODUCTIO:;. 

" Wliile the brown file lie quaffed. 
Loud then the chamj^ic'n laughed. 
And as the wind-gusts vs'aft 
The sea foam brightly, 
So the loud laugh of scorn 
Out of those Hps unshorn, 
From the deep di-inldug-horn 
Blew the foam lightly. 

" She was a piince's chUd, 

I but a Viking wUd, 

And though she blushed and smile; 

I was discai'ded ! 
Should not the dove so white 
Follow the sea-mew's flight, 
Why did they leave that night 

Her nest unguarded ? 

" Scarce had I put to sea, 
Beaiing the maid with me, — 
Fairest of all was she 

Among the Norsemen ! — 
When on the white sea-strand, 
Waving his armed hand, 
Saw we old Hildebrand, 
With twenty horsemen 

" Then launched they to the blast. 
Bent like a reed each mast, 
"i et we were gaining fast. 

When the wind failed us ; ^ 
And with a sudden flaw 
Came romid the gusty Skaw, 
So that om- foe we saw 

Laugh as he hailed us. 

" And as to catch the gale 
Round veered the flapping sail, 
Death ! was the helmsman's hail, 

Death without quarter ! 
Mid-ships, with ii'on keel, 
Struck we her ribs of steel ; 
Down her black hulk did reel 

Thi-ough the black water ! 

" As, ■^s'ith his wings aslant, 
Sails the fierce coriftorant, 
Seeking some rocky haunt, 
With his prey laden, 



10 INTRODUCTIOMo 

So towai'd the open main, 
Beating to sea again 
Thrtiugh the Avild hun-icane, 
Bore I the maiden. 

* Tliree "weeks we westward bora, 
And, when the storm was o'er, 
Cioud-iike we saw the shore 

Stretching to leevrard ; 
There for my lady's bower 
Built I the lofty tower, 
Which, to this very hour, 

►Stands looking eeawai-d. 

** There lived we many years ; 
Time di-ied the maiden's teai's ; 
She liad forgot her fears, 

She was a mother ; 
Death closed her mild blue eyes; 
Under that tower she hee ; 
Ne'er shall the sun arise 

On such another ! 

" Still grew my bosom then, 
Still as a stagnant fen 1 
Hateful to me were men, 

ITie sun-light hateful ! 
In tlie vast forest here, 
Clad in my wai'like geai*, 
Fell I upon my ejjear, — 

O, death was grateful ! 

" Thus, seamed with many scais, 
Bursting these piison-bars, 
Up to its native stars 

Islj soul ascended ! 
There from the flowing bowl 
Deep di-inks the wanior's soul, 
Skoal to the Northland ! skoal,''' 

— Thus the tale ended 



— -f-^C^'l^^ — 



PART 11: 

THE CONTROVERSY. 



Brown University, > 
Providence, March 27th, 1847. } 

My attention was, a short time since, attracted to an 
article in one of the journals of your town, over the 
signature of " Visitor," asking for information, or facts 
in history, relative to the old ruin in Newport, com- 
monly known as the Old 3IilI. I have been patiently 
awaiting some answer to that communication, not 
doubting that it would call forth a response from 
some of the literati, whose names, familiar to all, are so 
closely interwoven with the history of the ancient town. 
The subject, which has been many times revived, and 
as often allowed to relapse into neglect and unconcern, 
is one which is deeply fraught with interest to the 
antiquarian, and historian also; the contemplation of 
which, in a true spirit of inquiry, for reminiscences of 
ancient days, would lead, no doubt, to the development 
of historical facts, which, in this western hemisphere, 
are entirely unknown. This important work should be 
entered into at once, by men of our own State, of high- 
ly scientific attainments, and historical information. 
The longer it is allowed to slumber, the deeper and 
darker is the veil of obscurity which enshrouds it. 
Each progressing year but adds fresh obstacles to the 
satisfactory solution of historical questions, which have 
arisen only to harass and agitate the most learned anti- 
quarians of modern times. The history or tradition of 
the Old Mill itself is so conclusive to my own mind 

3— 



12 THE CONTROVERSY. 

(having spent many hours in anxious research upcn the 
very subject,) that so far as it, of itself, is involved, it 
needs hardly elucidation ; but connected with other 
interesting relics of former ages, which abound in the 
Eastern States, and along the borders of the St. Law- 
rence, volumes of facts, in relation to the first settlement 
of this country, ages prior to its pretended discovery 
by Columbus, are yet, I believe, to be rescued from 
oblivion, and become matter of history ; but in no way 
except by deep research, and most patient exploration. 
The ancient ruins along the borders of the St. Law- 
rence, of temples, similar in construction to the Old 
Tower at Newport ; the triangular rocks near Mt. 
Kalatda, in Maine, (supposed by some geologists to 
be natural formations;) the immense mounds which 
lie in direct line from the northern to the southern 
boundary of Massachusetts ; the hieroglyphic inscrip- 
tions on the Dighton rock ; the carved figures on the 
rocks of our own State, in its length and breadth, — tend 
to show, most conclusively, that a race of beings, 
somewhat skilled in the Arts, once existed on this 
continent, holding communication with each other for 
hundreds of miles, and this even before the erection of 
what now stands as the Newport ruin ; for according 
to the report of a Committee, read before the Royal 
Society of Antiquarians, at Copenhagen, 1836, it is con- 
•clusively established, that the race of men who built the 
tower at Newport, were the offspring of emigrants from 
the St. Lawrence, prior to the years 1070 — 1075; and 
the inscription at Dighton had even at that time been 
handed down as unexplained matter of history. 

Professor Rafn, of Copenhagen, and Graetz, of Got- 
tenburg, have devoted more time and labor toward the 
elucidation of this mystery, than all the antiquarians of 
Europe or America. The report made by them, as a 
Committee, before the Royal College at Copenhagen, is 
in part (in copy) possessed by a gentleman at New 

Haven, who some time since favored Professor , 

of Brown University, and myself, with a perusal, for the 
purpose of aiding us in furnishing material for a report. 



TfH£ CONTROVERSY, 



1^ 



vnade before the Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, 
in 1841, which was, in part, published in the papers of 
the day. For the information of " Visitor," I will sum 
up the report, as briefly as possible. 

Upon the demise of Bishop Oelrischer, President of 
the Royal Society at Copenhagen, in 1830, 1400 reichs- 
thalers, (about $1000,) fell to the Society by his bequest, 
for the purpose of prosecuting inquiries in relation to 
the Northmen, who, it w^as know^n , occupied the terri- 
tory aforesaid, prior to 1060. By the unanimous vote 
of the College, this important mission w^as confided to 
Professor Scrobein, at that time of the geological depart- 
ment. In the early part of 1832, he left his native 
country for the prosecution of this work ; arriving at 
London, where the object was fully made known and 
entered into by the Society of that metropolis, he be- 
came possessed of highly important information, gathered 
from the records of the British Museum, tending to 
throw much light upon the subject. 

Leaving England, he arrived at lif^lifax iii May, 
whence he proceeded to Boston, gathering infor- 
mation and making surveys during his progress. In 
August he visited Newport, and having secured the co- 
operation of a number of scientific gentlemen of N., 
with several officers of the army, at that time stationed 
there, he then proceeded to examine and excavate 
around the Old Tower. The results of his labors are 
fully detailed in the report before alluded to, but its 
extreme length will prevent me from confining myself 
to its words. 

In connection with information adduced from othei 
sources, he says, in substance, that the old ruin was an 
appendage to a temple, and used for religious offices, as 
a baptistery or baptismal font, as was the custom with 
the people in the mother country, numerous evidences 
of which still exist, in similar structures in Norway. — 
It appears to have been erected by the Northmen, in 
the 11th century, during a sojourn of Bishop Eric in 
Vinland, as the island was called, from the excellence 
of its wine and abundance of its grapes. The exQava- 



14 THE CONTROVERSY. 

tioii around the towTr at the time alluded to, confirmed 
the opinions previously entertained. Under the centre 
of the ruin was clearly shown tlie foundation of the re- 
ceptimum, or place where the candidates stood while 
receiving the baptismal shower, which ^vas let down 
from a large reservoir above, into which it was collected 
by a concave roof, formed of boughs, over-laid with 
mats of \ines and leaves. In close proximity to this 
was a second foundation — that of the palestrium, or 
altar of the officiating priest. The aqueducts leading 
from these were clearly defined, although the greater 
part had been previously removed by the former pro- 
prietor of the soil on which it stands. The temple to 
which this baptistery was contingent, it is supposed was 
either abandoned after the foundation was erected, or 
being built of perishable materials, its superstructure 
must have fallen into decay in the interval which elapsed; 
from the evacuation of the island by^ the Northmen, in' 
the 14th century^ and its occupation by the confederates 
of Roger Williams. The foundation, which was of 
extreme length, extended across what is now Mill Street,, 
at a point east of wlxere a church was erected* in 1723V 
at which tinire, as appears by the records of the churchy 
it was displaced, and the material used in erecting the 
foundation of the church. 

That there was a large settlement in the immediate 
vicinity of this important rmn, most satisfactory evi- 
dence exists. Ancient coins have been exhumed, some 
of the date of Henry II, 1160, which would lead us U> 
believe that some kind of commercial intercourse ex- 
isted in those days. The island in this part was much 
narrower than at present, the sea ebbing and flowing in- 
close proximity to the ten>ple ; marine shells and aque- 
ous fomiations having been dug up where it is now 
thickly inhabited and settled. 

There are many other points of interest in the report, 
which I pass for the present ; but it is sincerely hoped 
that the subject being revived, the investigation will be 
renewed, and the work prosecuted with vigor and ability. 
Let a society be formed, and with the important testi- 



THE CONTROVERSY. 15 

many wliich the labors of others has adduced, they 
might, by new excavations around the ruins, and in the 
vicinity, do much to rescue from oblivion records of a 
race of remarkable men, who are shown to us only by 
faint glimpses of tradition, almost unsupported by his- 
torical coincidents. 



[The following was in answer to a private letter, re- 
ceived by "Antiquarian," from Mr. Melville : ] 

Brow^n University, ^ 
Providence, May 16, 1847'. j 

When a few diys since I addressed you upon the 
subject of the old ruin at Nevv^part, I did not intend or 
expect to trespass again upon your pitience. My sole 
object in reviewing at that time a few facts connected 
with that mysterious structure, was to revive, if possi- 
ble, an interest and exertion which, from the queries of 
*' Visitor," I was led to believe, if revived, would secure 
the co-operation of some of the talented citizens of 
Newport, in tracing and elucidating other important 
facts connected with the history of our own section 
during a period of centuries, indeed of ages, which has 
as yet received slight notice from the historians of our 
own land. And from the disjointed fragments at which 
we catch an occasional glimpse, we are indebted to An- 
tiquarians of remote nations. This should not be. — 
We have ample material and talent to prosecute, with 
vigor, these important and interesting inquiries, and no 
section of our country, of which we have any knowl- 
edge, affords so extensive a field for antiquarian labor, 
as the island of Rhode Island and its immediate eastern 
vicinity, with portions of the adjacent States of Massa- 
chusetts and Maine, to the eastern borders of the St. 
Lawrence. The communications which have been ad- 
dressed to me by several eminent citizens of Newport, 
render it obligatory upon me to respond to them, and 
in no way can I so well or easily effect this (without 
multiplying MSS., which the pressure of my profes- 
sional duties forbids) as throuo-h the columns of some 
4-^ 



16 THE CONTKOVEKSr. 

journal in their vicinity. As you received with sc 
much favor my previous communication, I trust you» 
will pardon a second intrusion. 

An elaborate article addressed to me, over the sig- 
nature of the " oldest inhabitant"" of Newport, merits^ 
especial attention, not so much from its concise history 
of the " old stone mill," from the time of Governor 
Arnold, as its absurd and frivolous objections to th'e 
learned report of Professors Rafn and Graetz before 
the Royal Society of Copenhagen, extracts from which' 
appeared in my former communication. This tedious 
document I would willingly submit, but its extreme 
length forbids it ; and as it refers to no period prior to 
the 17th century, it will shed no light upon the su"bject 
of our pursuit. The facts which are contained in it 
have long been possessed by the Historical Society of 
this State, collected with much care and labor by its 
late Secretary,* a worthy and intelligent citizen of 
Newport. That the old tower was basely desecrated" 
by Gov. Arnold for ihe purpose of a corn-mill, we are 
well aware, — but I believe that the "oldest inhabitant 
who has resided 40 years in close proximity to said 
ruin," is the first to assert that it was erected by Gov. 
Arnold. As well might it be assumed that he was also* 
the architect of the numerous structures,, on the bor- 
ders of the Sualcusluo, (a branch of the St. Lawrence,) 
of those at Striumfiord in Iceland, or those more re- 
mote still in Nimmin, in; Norway, all of wiiich, froin 
their similarity of design, claim an architectural affinity 
with the Newport ruin. These, so mysterious to the 
Western world, are, even in these late day^, familiar to 
the inhabitants of the North of Europe. Erected in 
the perepteral order, they stand as monuments of a race 
of men, which, for centuries before the birth of Arnold,- 
had entirely disappeared from the American continent. 
The excavations of Professor Scrobein are not rec- 
ollected by our " oldest inhabitant," neither does he 
believe that any such were made; this is an absurd 



■^The late Stephen Grould, Esq. 



THE CONTROVERSY. 17 

position, and clearly shows his dependence upon his own 
memory, rather than the exposition set forth by the 
learned Society of Copenhagen. On this point we need 
seek for no testimDny which does not already exist. A 
communication received from an eminent citizen of 
Newport, of less years than my ancient friend, places the 
question in the clearest light, wherein he says that " he 
was present at the time alluded to, with Lieut. Barber of 
the Army, (Birbarin no doubt,) and enjoyed also the 
personal acquaintance and regard of Professor S. ; but 
I beg leave to refer to the details of the report which 
before were omitted from their length, — which states 
** that after tedious delay in procuring the necessary 
implements for a minute examination, and after exposing 
the base of the columns upon which the superstructure 
rests, the pedestrium was clearly defiued, consisting of 
a large flat rock or tableaux of hexidemital form, and 
immense bulk, supported from below by inverted obe- 
lisks of graaf stone, varying in length from 12 feet to 
14 feet 6 inches;" further it states, that "as a more 
extended excavation was forbidden, from fear of loosen- 
ing the bed of the ruin, the system of probing (the 
last resort of geologists) was decided upon, for the pur- 
pose of detailing the exact proportions of the staminas 
of the pedestrium — which was effected by piercing the 
ground at their sides with long iron rods of peculiar 
formation, made expressly for this purpose. The foun- 
dation of the pedestrium and receptimum consisted of 
single staminae without the pedestrium, of less propor- 
tions than those of the main structure." This mode of 
supporting perepteral architecture, was known and prac- 
ticed only by the nations of the North, in their earliest 
history, for the reason that the mortar or coagmentum, 
which so firm'y united the superstructure, was powerless 
and useless when exposed to the genial warmth and 
moisture of the earth. This, I trust, has disposed of, 
at greater length than I intended, the principal objection 
urged by the "oldest inhabitant;" its truth can be 
reiiily corroborated by the sams process which elicited 
the facts. 



IS THE CONTROVERSY. 

With the recommendation of the " oldest inhabitant,'^ _ 
I cordially concur, that a convention to consist of the 
literary men of the State be assembled at Newport, at 
which time should be submitted the report before alluded 
to, with information obtained from other sources, — and 
this question disposed of, in such a manner as Would 
put at rest all further cavilling and disputation. June, 
the period named, would be much too early ; let Octo- 
ber next be fixed upon for the purpose, by which time, 
much valuable information may be derived from Mr. 
Bancroft, our Minister at St. James, who has recently 
been admitted to membership in the Royal Society of 
Antiquarians, at London, for the very purpose of prose- 
cuting a work long since commenced by him, tending 
to elucidate, in chronological succession, the history of 
the Northmen, in New England, from the time of the 
first discovery of the American Coast by Bierne Hieru- 
flison, A. D., 931, to the occupation of Newfoundland 
by Ratfd Thoralduson in 1347, which is intended as a 
supplement to his great national work now publishing. 
H'lving ready access to the treasures of that Royal Col- 
lege, (a privilege hitherto denied American citizens) we 
have every reason to believe that such information may 
be gathered by him, as will clearly dispose of many er- 
roneous impressions v/hich exist in regard to the section 
and period before named. 

The lack of any traces of human bodies, to v/hich 
'* Creda," in his letter to me, refers, is readily explained 
by referring to Vol. III. of Antiquitates Americanae, in 
the library of this Institution, and also, I believe, in the 
Redwood Library, of Newport, which was published 
some years since, by the Royal Society of Copenhagen, 
and furnished gratuitously to many literary institutions 
in the country. It v/ill appear from this, that for many 
centuries, the custoin prevailed anung the Northern na- 
tions of burning the bodies of their dead, and was 
rigidly enforced as an essential religious rite ; the ashes 
of which were preserved and mixed with the tears of 
the survivors ni lachrymah, or cups, composed of ar- 
gillaceous earth, — one of these, on which is an obscure 



THE CONTROVERSY. 19 

Coptic inscription, together with a cornucocltlear, or 
horn spoon, used in connection with it, which were 
found many years since amid the ruins of the temple of 
Kiiser, in Iceland, are now in possession of the Anti- 
quarian Society of Philadelphia. In all the different 
sections occupied by the Northmen, not a single trace 
exists of a grave or monument to the memory of the 
dead, except upon the borders of the St. Lawrence, 
where, for miles, may still be traced remains of vast 
mounds, which were known to contain heaps of human 
bones ; and are supposed, by Antiquarians, to contain 
the relics of the race of Northmen, which were over- 
come and slain by the Indians, (the so called Aborig- 
ines) after they had driven them from their peaceful 
settlements in New England. Antiquarians believe, 
and many facts conspire to validate the opinion, that 
this Continent was first discovered by the nations of tlie 
East, previous to any knowledge possessed or imparted 
by Northern nations. What a field is here for the ever- 
searching mind of the Antiquarian ! What delights 
must he experience, who in a manner holds silent con- 
verse with an unknown race, existing not centuries but 
ages before this vast continent was opened to the 
intrepid navigators of the South Sea ! British Antir- 
quarians, to satisfy their longings, delve amid the classic 
remains of Greece and Rome, or study upon the burning 
sands of Egypt and the Holy land, where the foot-printn 
of travellers have for ages been impressed : but the field 
of the Northern Antiquarians, and those of our own coun- 
try, has been, as it ever should be, amid the untrodden 
recesses of the American Continent. We can trace, 
distinctly, the first Northern discoverers from the 10th 
through succeeding centuries ; they are visibly shown 
to us by conclusive evidence gathered by the learned 
men of their own time, and transmitted by their descen- 
dants ; but the chief question still arises, — of what 
country, race or tongue were those, inhabiting these re- 
gions, previous to the men of the North ? From whence 
sprang those who carved indelibly the almost mystic 
figures ou the rock at Dighton, or shaped the triangulai' 



20 THE CONTROVERSV. 

tormations of Mt. Kalatda? That the Northmen were 
the discoverers of these in the 10th century, is strongly 
asserted by Bishop' Pontipoddin, in his histories of the 
(settlement of Iceland, Newfoundland and Helluland, 
now New England) which have been preserved many 
centuries, in their original state, in the archives of the 
Copenhagen colleges. The characters upon the Digh- 
ton Rock were at that time, as described by him, 
distinctly legible, although mysterious, of an average 
length of 10 to 11 inches ; whereas, at the present time, 
they have attained, and in different parts, exceed in 
length 18 inches. Here, then, reasoning by analogical 
deduction, we may be clearly convinced, that these 
mysterious landmarks of the Antiquarians, which ex- 
cited wonder and amazement in a period so remote, 
having increased in length during a period of 8 cen- 
turies only 5 or 6 inches, must have increased, in 
corresponding proportion, from the date of their for- 
mation to their first discovery by the Northmen. This^ 
then, which is the only light in which it has ever been 
viewed by geologists, would render these remarkable 
inscriptions, which abound in Massachusetts and Rhode 
Island, coeval with those of Sumagni in Persia, Trich- 
l>en in Egypt, and Indinissoni in Ancient Greece, 
which were known and historically chronicled before 
the Christian era. Although the inscription at Digh- 
ton may be considered the most prominent in New 
England, yet others, of the same general character, exist, 
which have always inspired with profound admiration 
the scholar and historian. The inferior inscriptions are 
devoid of that regularity and conjunctiveness which 
distinguish the superior, but possess the same general 
rudimmta sdentice. The most remarkable of these are 
the Pakwewatanis near Mt. Holyoke, the piradomital 
concretions on Dover plains, the square rock, (so called 
locally) at Tiverton, the Nagassisit on the South-eastern 
extremity of the island of Rhode Island, which is the 
most remarkable, — the Man-a-wau-sit near Mt. Hope, 
and a few of lower grade. 

The epigraphs upon these were evidently inscribed 



THE CONTROVERSY. ^1 

by the same people, and although more distinct in some, 
particularly those more inland, all present the same 
general aspect and principles of ancient hieroglyph- 
icks. Mr, Schoolcraft asserts, and is supported by Mr, 
Catherwood, in the opinion, that they belong to that class 
termed Furdo Argyto Dnostick, which the most learned 
paleographers have as yet been unable to decipher ; and 
the impression is supported by the most able authorities 
that they record remarkable events of some nation yet 
unknown. The Barbaric, Syrian, Scandinavian, Coptic 
and Persian dialects — furnish no data by which their 
mystery may be unravelled ; but as the solution of an- 
cient hieroglyphicks, in both hemispheres, is now ex- 
citing in all countries profound attention, we hope and 
have every reason to believe, that in the general pro- 
gress these important records may eventually be illustra- 
ted. The idea which so long has pervaded the general 
mind, that they are the works of the Indians, previous to 
the discoveries of the Northmen, is confuted by the 
fact, that among the former the use of tools was entirely 
unknown, and the geological formation of these rocks is 
of such durability and compactness as to render them, im- 
pregnable to any other than the hardest metallic substances. 

I have, rather diffusively, though briefly as possible, 
endeavored to illustrate, without citing particulars, the 
basis of ideas which, by study and research, may be re- 
solved into historical facts, to which, in a short timie, by 
the labors of scientific and literary men, the attention of 
all nations may be directed, controvrting as they do, by 
analogical and paleological reasoning, many confirmed 
and erroneous impressions in relation to the early histo- 
ry of this continent, subverting entirely the historical 
creed of its first discovery by Columbus and satisfactorily 
establishing that it had been inhabited by three distinct 
and separate races, previous to the landing of the Pil- 
grims at Plymouth. 

1st. The race of men supposed to be ^gypto-Dros- 
ticks, who traversed this country from the east, inscrib- 
ed their national chronology on the everlasting rocks of 
the eastern States, and retiring south with the changing 



S>'2 TDE CONTROVERSY. 

season, settled in the Torrid Zone. 

2d. The Northmen exploring by their nautical skill 
the rugged coast, whose history is faithfully transmitted 
by the Icelandic chronicles. 

3d. The Indians, or so called aborigines, who fully 
overcame and expelled the Northmen beyond the eastern 
border of the St. Lawrence. The magnitude of this 
subject, — the antique history of New England, is such 
that while it readily enhsts the profound attention and 
support of the historian and antiquary, it also invites the 
attention of all who are disposed to add, either by histo- 
rical or traditional evidence, to the most rapid accumu- 
lations in tliis vast field of science. 

With respect, Yours, 

Antiquarian- 



To Antiquarian, Brown University. 

Newport, R. /., June 10, 1847. 
The object of ''Antiquarian," by his answer, appears 
to be, to establish as a fact that the Northmen, that is, 
emigrants from the North of Europe, particularly Nor- 
way, who, according to their history, or tradition there, 
emigrated to and occupied the North-eastern part of 
tliis continent, prior to 1060, and some of their des- 
cendants from the borders of the St. Lawrence, migra- 
ted along the coast as far westward as this Island, prior 
to the years 1070 — 1075, and that it was their offspring 
who erected what now stands as the Newport ruin, 
in the 11th century, "for (he says) according to the 
report of a committee read before the Royal Society of 
Antiquarians, at Copenhagen, 1836, it is conclusively 
established, that the race of men who built the tower at 
Newport, were the offspring of emigrants from the 
St. Lawrence," as above stated. These facts he en- 
deavors to establish by the architectural affinity of the 
old ruin to the numerous structures on a branch of the 
St. Lawrence, and in Norway, &c., and by making a 
statement purporting to be an extract from a report of 
Professor Scrobein, of the Geological department of 



THE CONTROVERSY. 23 

*.lie Royal College at Copenhagen, who, it was stated, 
was appointed by the unanimous vote of the College 
*'for the purpose of prosecuting inquiries in relation to 
the Northmen, who, it was known, occupied the terri- 
tory aforesaid, prior to 1C60." This report appears to 
be the same made by Professors Rafn of Copenhagen 
and Graetz of Gottenburg, as a Committee, before the 
Royal College at Copenhagen, in 1836, which led the 
College to the conclusion above stated. The part of the 
statement made by "Antiquarian" for the information of 
''Visiter," purporting to be a portion of a report of one 
Professor Scrobein, relating to the Old Tower, pub- 
lished in the Newport Daily News, about the first of 
April, being altogether fictitious, would have been suf- 
fered to pass unnoticed as one of the fabulosities of the 
time, had it not been used, and succeeded, (according to 
the statement,) in deceiving the Royal College at Co- 
penhagen, and been calculated, through their credulity, to 
deceive the world in general ; for these reasons it re- 
quires a passing notice, in order to disabuse those who 
from a lack of knowledge of fact in relation to the sub- 
ject, and the influence of high-sounding names, may 
have been deceived. After mentioning the appoint- 
ment of Professor Scrobein, and the object for which he 
was appointed by the Royal Society, as before stated, 
the report continues, "Professor Scrobein, in the early 
part of 1832, left his native country for the prosecution 
of this work : after visiting England, he arrived in Hali- 
fax in May, from whence he proceeded to Boston. In 
August he visited Newport, and having secured the co- 
operation of a number of scientific gentlemen of N., 
with several officers of the army at that time stationed 
there, he then proceeded to examine and excavate 
around the Old Tower." "In connection with infor- 
mation adduced from other sources," he says, in sub- 
stance, that "the old ruin was an appendage to a temple 
and used for religious offices, as a baptistery or baptis- 
mal font, as was the custom with the people in the 
mother country, numerous evidences of which still ex- 
ist, in similar structures in Norway. It appears to have 
5 



24 THE CONTROVERSY. 

been erected in the 11th century, during a sojourn of 
Bishop Eric in Vinland, as the Island was called, from 
the excellence of its wines and abundance of grapes. 
Under the centre of the ruin was clearly shown the 
foundation of the receptimum, or place where the can- 
didates stood, while receiving the baptismal shower, 
which was let down from a large reservoir above, into 
which it was collected by a concave roof formed of 
boughs, over-laid with mats of vines and leaves. In 
close proximity to this was a second foundation, that 
of the palestrium or altar of the officiating priest." 
**The temple to which this baptistery was contingent it 
is surmised was either abandoned after the foundation 
was erected, or being built of perishable materials, its 
superstructure must have fallen into decay, in the inter- 
val which elapsed from the evacuation of the island by 
the Northmen in the 14th century, and its occupation 
by the confederates of Roger Williams. The founda- 
tion, which was of extreme length, extends across what 
is now Mill-street, at a point east of where a church 
was erected in 1723, at which time, as appears from 
the records of the church, it was displaced, and the 
material used in erecting the foundation of the church. 
That there was a large settlement in the immediate vi- 
cinity of this important ruin, most satisfactory evidence 
exists. Ancient coins have been exhumed, some of the 
date of Henry II. 1160, which would lead us to be- 
lieve that some kind of commercial intercourse existed in 
those days. The island, in this part, was much narrow- 
er than at present, the sea ebbing and flowing in close 
proximity to the temple ; marine shcjlls and aqueous 
formations have been dug up, where it is now thickly 
inhabited and settled." I have copied this part of the re- 
port attributed to Professor Scrobein, relative to the exca- 
vation, &;c. entire, to expose its extreme absurdity and 
falsity, which is stamp 2d on the very face of it, and re- 
quires no argument to show% except to such as are unac- 
quainted with the location of the Old Stone Mill and 
the facts stated in the report connected with it. " An- 



THE CONTROVERSY. 25 

cient coins," if any were exhumed, as stated in the report, 
of the date of Henry II. 1160, would be no evidence that 
commercial intercourse existed in those days, and being 
an English coin, it is not probable that it was brought to 
this continent by the Northmen at that date. The coins 
might have been brought here centuries after their date ; 
or very recently taken from the cabinet of the curious in 
those matters, and most probably for deception. That 
"the Island in this part was much narrower than at pres- 
ent," is evidently untrue ; and the '"ebbing and flowing 
of the sea in close proximity to the temple" is equally so. 
The nearest approach of the sea to the Old Ruin, is 
the shore west of Thames Street, in the harbor of New- 
port. It is evident the land west of Thames Street has 
never been made or extended westward (exclusive of the 
wharves,) exceeding one or two hundred feet in any part 
of it. When I was a boy, and went in swimming in the 
docks, there was a clay bank at the head of all the docks 
from Taylor's wharf, (now Devens's) to Cowley's wharf, 
(now Stevens's,) up to the foot of which the sea flowed 
only at spring-tides; the bank was five or six feet high, 
and so steep as to be difficult of ascent and descent. 
North of Cowley's wharf, the land was lower, as far as 
the Long wharf and beyond ; but has evidently never been 
extended from the original shore more than above stated, 
in any part of it. The distance from this shore to the 
Old Ruin on the hill, east of it, is less than one hundred 
and twenty rods, and the elevation of the ground from, 
high water to the base of the ruin, is almost 75 feet. 
The reader will judge from these facts whether the sea 
ever flowed in close proximity to the temple which, it is 
pretended, stood in that vicinity. To give the appear- 
ance of plausibility to the assertion that the sea once 
flowed over the land which is now thickly inhabited and 
settled, it is stated in the report that "marine shells and 
aqueous formations have been dug up" in those parts. 
This was evidently stated to deceive Prof. Scrobein, if 
it is a fact that he ever came here for the purpose stated ; 
and if not, to deceive those at a distance from the scene ; 
for every body here knows, that on this and the adjacent 



f6 THE CONTROVERSr. 

islands and shores, where the Indians once inhabited^ 
marine shells of every description are dug up frequently 
wherever there was an Indian settlement or wigwam, 
even to the summit of Mount Hope, once the residence 
of King Phillip, and on the heights of Tiverton, &c. 

I once heard an old man say, that he remembered 
when the Old Stone Mill stood near the shore where the 
ferry wharf now is, (I would not vouch for his sanity,) 
and as this has, in some degree, been corroborated by 
Cooper, by a scene in his "Red Rover," it is as likely to 
be true, as that the sea ever flowed in close proximity to 
the phantasma temple in the vicinity of the Old Ruin. 

The whole report attributed to Professor Scrobein, 
is purely legendary without even a single fact to give 
it the appearance of truth to those acquainted with 
the subject, and so contrived as to deceive those not 
acquainted with the location of the old ruin, and well 
known facts relating to it. It would be an act of charity 
towards Professor Scrobein for any one, antiquarian or 
not, to disabuse him of the error, by showing that he 
had no hand in the report attributed to him, or if he had^ 
it was founded on false information given him, and on 
perverted facts. It is evident that the information was 
given, or the pretended report written, by some one ac- 
quainted with facts not generally known, and which could 
not have been discovered or ascertained, if the pretended 
excavation and examination had actually been made,which 
facts were perverted to suit the purposes of whoever com- 
municated them, or wrote or dictated the pretended re- 
port. Edward Pelham,* (who married a grand-daughter 
of Gov. Arnold, to whom the Mill field, so called, came 
by descent,) who died in 1741, in his will, dated May 
21st, 1740, bequeathed to his daughter Hermione, the 
wife of John Banister, (after other bequests to her,) 
"Also one other piece or parcel of land, situated, lying 
and being in Newport aforesaid, containing eight acres, 
or thereabouts, with an Old Stone Wind Mill thereon 



* Appendix Letter K 



THE CONTROVERSY. 27 

standing and being, and commonly called and known 
by the name of the Mill-field, &c., bounded Northerly 
partly upon Caleb Carr's Lane, (now Mill street,) part- 
ly upon a work-house standing iji said lane, and partly 
upon a burying place, to the Northward whereof stands 
a Meeting-house, to be and remain to the said Hermio- 
ne Banister," &c. He gives and bequeaths to his 
daughter Penelope Pelham, after the death of her moth- 
er, to whom the same was bequeathed during her natur- 
al life, a parcel of land "on Caleb Carr's lane, as high 
till it comes upon a parallel line with the sto?ie mall at 
the head of my upper garden running North therefrom." 
The foundation of the work-house, which stood in Carr's 
lane, near the old mill, and the aqueducts leading there- 
from, part of which had been removed by the former 
proprietor of the soil on which it stood, which of course 
was known, was probably the foundation perverted 
to the foundation of the palestrium, or altar of the of- 
ficiating priest. The stone wall at the head of Mr. 
Pelham' s upper garden, and running North therefrom, 
must have been, according to the bounds, east of the 
meeting-house, and between that and the Stone Mill. 
This wall was known, from part of it, which extended 
North across what is nov/ Mill-street, being displaced, 
and the materials used in erecting the foundation of the 
church, which appears by their records. The remain- 
ing wall, which is of great length, is without doubt the 
same, which, in the report, is perverted to the founda- 
tion of the pretended "temple to which this baptistery 
was contingent." 

"Antiquarian," after reciting, at considerable length, 
a part of the report relating to the mode of operation in 
making the excavation and the discoveries made, &c., 
"until a more extended one was forbidden, from fear of 
loosening the bed of the ruin," says, " This, I 
trust, has, disposed of, at greater length than I intended, 
the principal objection urged by the ' Oldest In- 
habitant.' Its truth can be readily corroborated by 
the same process which elicited the facts." I nre- 
6 



28-. . THE CONTEOVKRST- 

sume it is meant, by excavating about the ruin ,— 
this is the very course I would wish to pursue in order 
to prove the report totally void of truth. Those who 
wish to sustain the position assumed by "Antiquarian," 
would not consent to this process, and there is no prob- 
ability that any excavation would be allowed, — but if it 
should be permitted, I can assure "Antiquarian" that, so 
far from corroborating the facts said to be elicited by 
the excavation pretended to have been made, (which is 
already refuted in the opinion of every one open to con- 
viction,) although there would be no danger "of loosen- 
ing the bed of the ruin," it would most assuredly prove 
the groundlessness of the report, and undermine the 
foundation and prostrate the superstructure erected on 
the report attributed to Professor Scrobein. It w^as in '32, 
less than fifteen years since, the excavations and discove- 
ries stated in the report attributed to Professor Scrobein are 
said to have been made^ with the co-operation of a num- 
ber of scientific gentlemen of Ncicport with several ojicers 
of the Army then stationed here; if that were the fact, 
the time stated is so recent that some of those who co- 
operated in the examination &c. must be now living, to 
whom reference might be made in corroboration, but not 
one has come forward or been referred to ; of one thing I 
am sure, there is no man of integrity and honor, whether 
citizen or officer of the army, who wou'd have assented 
to the report, as stated to have been made by Professor 
Scrobein. The writer of this is not ''the oldest inhabi- 
itant," but "■One of the oldest inhabitants of Newport, 
who was born, and has lived between seventy and eigh- 
ty years, within eighty rods of the "old stone mill," recent- 
ly styled the "Newport Ruin," and has never known any 
excavations made near it, except once about the year 
1797, when an excavation was made in the night 
time by a company of money diggers, directly under 
the centre of the ruin, which was left open, and 
about four or five feet deep, but did not disclose the 
foundation of the reeeptimum mentioned in the report 
in question. There is not one among the oldest in- 
habitants of Newpoit, (many of whom are older than 



THE CONTFtOTEHeY. 29 

myself,) of whom inquiry has been made, who recollects 
any excavation having been made about the ruin, ex- 
cept for the purpose above stated, — which has occurred 
several times within their recollection, — and recollecting 
those occurrences, they would certainly have a perfect 
recollection of any excavations so recently said to have 
been made, and of such extent and depth as to expose 
the base of the columns upon which the superstructure 
rests, &c. (for the details of the report, as stated by Anti- 
quarian, I refer the reader to his publication in the Daily 
News of May 26th,) and "that, a more extended excava- 
tion was forbidden, for fear of loosening the bed of the 
ruin." In addition to the foregoing evidence that no 
such excavation was made, as is stated in the report,?;! 
will add the information of a gentleman of high stand- 
ing, and of strict integrity and honor, who has lived 
some thirty or forty years within one hundred yards of 
the old ruin, and cannot come out of his house without 
seeing it, who avers that no excavation was made about 
or under it at the time stated in the report, for it could 
not have been made vv^iihout his observing it, and he 
never knew or heard of any excavations ever having 
been made about it, except with the view before stated. 
I Will refer any person who is not satisfied with this 
statement, to the gentleman last alluded to for its cor- 
rectness, as far as it regards himself, which, from the 
freedom with which he answered my inquiries, I feel 
myself authorized to do. 

The foundation on which the false and groundless 
report attributed to Professor Scrobein was erected, 
being removed, the whole superstructure must fall into 
its original nothingness ; notwithstanding the commu- 
nication received by '' Antiquarian" from an eminent 
citizen of Newport, of less years than his ancient friend, 
which, he says, places the question in the clearest light, 
wherein he says that " he was present at the time alluded 
to, with Lieut. Birber of the Army," but as there was 
no such person here, the writer or some other added 
("Birbarin no doubt.") I pity the poverty of that man's 



30 THE CONTROVERSY. 

mind, who, with no better evidence than that adduced, 
and without seeing the refutation, as a man beside him- 
self, says, in the plural, "?/;e are decidedly of the opinion 
of " Antiquarian" that it (" the Old Ruin") was built 
by the Northmen of Europe, centuries ago, and for 
religious rites and ceremon'es. 

In an article published by " Antiquarian" in the 
iVewport Daily News of the ^Gth instant, dated " Prov- 
idence, May 16th," he says, " An elaborate article, 
addressed to me over the signature of the ' oldest 
inhabitant of Newport,' merits special attention, not so 
much from its concise history of the ' Old Stone Mill,' 
from the time of Gov. Arnold, as its absurd and frivo- 
lous objections to the learned report of Professors Rafn 
and Graetz before the Royal Society of Copenhagen, 
extracts from which appeared in my former communi- 
cation. This tedious document I would willingly submit 
[publish] but its extreme length forbids it." From the 
allusion of " Antiquarian" to the tedious document which 
he would willingly submit, but for its extreme length, I 
recognize one written to him in reply to his communi- 
cation to *' Visitor," under the signature of " One of 
the oldest inhabitants of Newport." I am extremely 
sorry that the great length of my article should have 
prevented its being submitted, but I believe a better 
reason might be given ; i. e. my exposition of the foolish, 
ridiculous, and fallacious report of the discoveries made 
by a pretended excavation around the "Old Tower;" 
which, if it is true that the same was comprised in the 
report of a Committee read before the Royal Society of 
Antiquarians, at Copenhagen in 1836, and if it had any 
weight in bringing the society of Antiquarians, to the 
conclusion, that the race of men who built the tower at 
Newport, were the offspring of emigrants from the St. 
Lawrence prior to the year 1070 — 1075, — was a gross 
and palpable imposition on the Committee, the Royal 
Society, and the world. Having recited most of my 
elaborate article addressed to " Antiquarian", and "its 
absurd and frivolous objections to tlie learned report of 



THE CONTROVERSY. 31 

Professors Rafn and Graetz before the Royal Society 
of Copenhagen," — for the benefit of those who feel an 
interest in the subject and wish to come at the truth, 
I will now state the grounds of my opinion that " The 
Old Stone Mill" was built by Benedict Arnold, the first 
Governor of the Colony under the Charter granted by 
King Charles II in 1663, Benedict Arnold removed 
from Providence to Newport in 1653, (fifteen years af- 
ter the first settlement of the Town of Newport,) and 
was admitted a purchaser there on the 17th of May 
the same year ; he was one of the patentees named in 
the aforesaid Charter to the Colony and Providence 
Plantations in 1663, and was appointed first Governor 
under it. He afterwards held the same oflice by th© 
choice of the freemen for twelve years. He died in^l678, 
aged 63. Soon after his settlement in Newport, he had a 
house built on the lot on which the R. I. Union Bank 
now stands, directly in the rear of the site of that build- 
ing and about 30 feet from the road belonging to the 
Town, now Thames street, bounded westerly on said 
road, northerly on a street now Mill street, southerly on 
lane of Peter Coggeshall, now Green street, and easterly 
on lane of Walter Clarke, where Bellevue street now is, 
containing by estimation sixteen acres. On the Eastern 
part of said parcel of land the Old Stone Tower now 
stands. 

In Gov. Arnold's Will* which is dated the 29th day 
of December, 1677, of which I have an authenticated 
copy, is the following clause in the first item : " My 
body I desire and appoint to be buried at the north-east 
corner of a Parcel of ground containing three "^Rod 
square, being and lying in my land in or near ye line or 
path from my chcclling house, leading to my Stone huilt 
Wind Mill, in ye town of Newport above mentioned." 
" And I desire that my dear and loving wife Damaris 
Arnold, after her decease, may be buried near unto me 
on ye south side of ye place aforesaid ordered for mj 



* Appendix Letter A, 



32 THE CONTROVERSY. 

own interment." This is the burying place south of 
the Unitarian Meeting house where they and many of 
their descendants and relatives lay interred. After 
making some bequest for the support of his wife during 
her life, and towards ye maintenance of his daughter 
Godsgift Arnold, during the natural life of her mother 
&/C., the Will goes on, (Item 3d,) "I do also give and 
bequeath unto ye proper use and behoof of my said wife, 
Damaris Arnold, during her natural life, and after her 
decease to the use and behoof of my youngest daughter 
Freelove Arnold, all and singular ye lands and buildings 
severally hereafter named — namely, one tract of land 
being and lying in ye precincts of ye aforesaid Town 
of Newport, containing by estimation sixteen acres, dis- 
tinguished into two parcels by a highway belonging to 
ye said Town, and bounded severally as follows : that is 
to say, the lesser parcel, whereon is erected my ware- 
house, and wharf (now Stevens's wharf) bounded as 
followeth : on ye east on ye highway aforesaid (now 
Thames Street,) on the west by the sea or Harbor of 
Newport &:-c. — ye other and greater parcel of ye tract of 
land abovesaid, upon which standeth my dwelling, or 
mansion house, and other buildings thereon adjoining or 
belonging, as also ?ni/ Stone built Wind Mill, and in the 
said parcel is being and lying ye three Rod square of 
ground abovesaid, that I have set apart for a burying 
place — ye whole parcel being bounded as followeth: on ye 
west by ye highway aforesaid, " (now Thames street, 
where it runs between the R. I. Union Bank building, 
and Stevens' wharf :) here follow the other bounds, 
as before stated, designating the parcel of land on 
which his dwelling house formerly stood and extend- 
ing eastward a few rods beyond where his old stone 
built Wind Mill stands. Gov. Arnold's dwelling house 
was located as before stated, fronting west : I saw it 
pulled down, soon after the evacuation of this Island, by 
the British Army in the Revolution. The chimney and 
whole south end were built of rough stone and coarse 
mortar, and plastered on the outside with the same. 



THE CONTROVERSY. 33 

The rough stone and coarse mortar were so strongly ce- 
mented together, that they could not take it down by 
commencing at the top, without great labor ; for that 
reason the house was first pulled down, then guys were 
made fast to the top of the chimney and set tight, by 
means of tackles, to trees at a distance, to cause it to fall 
in a direction from the building near ; when it was un- 
dermined and fell, in urn mass, and was afterwards broken 
up with sledges, &c. This I consider pretty good evi- 
dence that the cement with which the Old Stone 31ill 
was built, was composed of similar materials, and erected 
about the same time. I said in my •' elaborate article'' 
addressed to " Antiquarian, Brown University," that the 
Old Stone Mill was, in my opinion, built by Gov. Arnold: 
I did not mean to convey the idea that he built it with 
his own hands, or that he was the architect, (before 
Gov. Arnold removed to Newport, fifteen years after the 
first settlement of the place, thefpopulation had increased 
very much, as well from other parts of the Colony, as 
from other Colonies and from Europe, among them were 
probably architects and builders in masonry, &c., who 
had built or seen similar structures in the old world, 
who might have been employed to erect a structure here, 
similar to some one they had built or seen elsewhere). 
In answer to this, '' Antiquarian" says, in his reply " As 
well might it be assumed that he was also the architect 
of the numerous structures on the borders of the Sualcul- 
no (a branch of the St. Lawrence) &c. or those more 
remote still, in Nimmin, in Norway, — all of which, from 
their similarity of design, claim an architectural affinity 
with the Newport Ruin." Does the architectural af- 
finity of the " Old Ruin" to the numerous structures on 
a branch of the St. Lawrence and in Norway, ^c. prove 
that the Old Stone Mill in Newport, was erected by I the 
Northmen from Europe, or their offspring from their 
settlements on the St. Lawrence ? Not, at all. There 
are numerous buildings constructed of rough stone and 
mortar on the Island of Martinico similarly constructed 
to some in Europe, which I have seen plates of, of which 



S4 THE CONTROVERSY. 

it is not known, at what period, or by whom, they were 
erected. There are tico, on the Island of St. Thomas, 
in the West Indies, built of rough stone and mortar, one 
of them exactly similar in its architectural construction 
to the Old Stone Mill in Newport ; it is circular, and is 
supported upon eight arches resting on thick round col- 
umns, about ten feet high, the centre of the arches from 
the base is about twelve or thirteen feet, and the diame- 
ter of the structure at the spring of the arches is about 
twenty-four feet on the outside, and 18 or 19 feet inside. 
It is not known by the inhabitants when, or by whom, they 
were built : the last mentioned stands on very high 
ground, and is resorted toby the inhabitants and masters 
of vessels as a look-out place, or observatory ; from a 
supposition that it was built by Pirates, it is called 
" Bluebeard's Castle.^' This information I had from a 
near relation, who in his voyages to St. Thomas' visited 
it frequently. 

Does not tiiis ruin, also, claim, from its sameness of 
construction, an architectural affinity to those before al- 
luded to 1 and is it not, from this circumstance, as like- 
ly that it was erected by the Northmen or their offspring 
ages ago, as that they erected in the 11th century 
the ancient ruin at Newport? And is it not as evident, 
from the similarity of construction of this ruin at St. 
Thomas' to those before named, that the West Indies 
were also discovered and inhabited by the Northmen 
long prior to the discovery of them by Columbus in 
1492, as that they or their offspring ever visited this 
island prior to its occupation by the English ? For there is 
nothing in history or tradition to warrant the assertion 
that they did. These questions are merely propounded 
for illustration. There is a tradition among the inhabi- 
tants of the Elizabeth Islands and the continent adja- 
cent, that a Colony of men came from the North long 
before there was any English settlement on this conti- 
nent, and landed at the Vineyard and gave it that name 
in consequence of the abundance of grapes found grow- 
ing there, and that, after staying there a few months, 



THE CONTROVERSY. 35 

they left the island and returned North, with the intention 
Df coming back the next year, but never returned, and 
were supposed to have been lost, as they were never af- 
ter heard of, (this was probably in the 11th century, du^ 
ring a sojourn of Bishop Eric, in Vinland, according to 
Norwegian history, as referred to by the writer of the 
report attributed to Prof. Scrobein;) this tradition was 
rife among tlie Indians xm the Vineyard in 1729, when 
the island was visited by an inhabitant of this town, 
who related it here, and it has come down to this time 
through his descendants. 

It is of very little consequence to the public in gene- 
ral, whether the old fabric in Newport was erected by 
the offspring of the Northmen in the 11th century, or 
by the English settlers or Gov. Arnold in the 16th cen. 
tury ; I do not pretend that its being named in Gov- 
Arnold's Will, as herein stated, is positive proof that he 
built it, but it warrants a very strong presumption that 
he did. There are some who are of the opinion that 
it was built by the ferst English settlers, as a place of 
resort and defence against the Indians ; this is a ration- 
al conjecture, because it is constructed in the best 
possible form for defence against an enemy of that 
■character ; if it had been built solid at the base as high 
as it is elevated on psllars, it might have been under- 
mined and thrown doicn, without the possibility of those 
within its wali preventing it, or annoying the enemy 
from the two windows by which the walls are pierced 
on opposite sides; which it would be impossible to ef- 
fect if the floor above the pillars were perforated with 
loopholes for musketry. I state this in answer to an 
observation made by your correspondent in his editori- 
al remark. If it had been erected for that purpose, be- 
ing a public work, there would have been some histo- 
ry, or tradition, of its origin and design. One of the 
strongest arguments that can be adduced, as evidence 
that it was not erected previous to the occupation of 
the Island by the first English settlers, is, that there is 
no record or tradition of its having been found stand- 
ing when they first came to the Island, and settled oji 



36 THE CONTROVERSY. 

it soon after, in 1638. This difficulty, however, has 
been ingeniously obviated and explained. In the 
Scientific American, a paper printed in New York, of 
the date of November 27th, 1845, there is a very cor- 
rect representation of the "Old Stone Tower at New- 
port, R. I." After giving a very exact description of 
this mysterious monument of antiquity, the author says, 
•'what excites so much curiosity concerning this tower, 
in the fact that no person living in or about Newport 
knows anything of its origin, and no record is found in 
history of its being seen or noticed by the early set- 
tlers of the Island. While it appears very improbable 
that a tower of this description should have been erect- 
ed by the aborigines, or that it should have been dis- 
covered by the early settlers, without some note thereof 
being made by the historian of those times," &.c. 
"Much having been written on the subject, by anticjua- 
rians, without approaching any definite conclusion with 
regard to the author or occasion of its construction, 
we shall dismiss the subject with the simple conjec- 
ture, that it is a fabric of remote antiquity, intended for 
a temple of Pagan worship, and erected by the process 
of heaping up earth around the building, as it progress- 
ed ; thus furnishing facilities for elevating the stone, as 
has been practised by the Chinese, and other nations ; 
but that the Sachem Builder having died, or failed be- 
fore the building was complete, the earth was left 
around the edifice, till, becoming overgrown with trees, 
the building w^as so far concealed from view, as not to 
attract the notice of the English settlers, until the land, 
being cleared, was gradually washed away by storms of 
rain, which, by a process, too slow to induce remark, 
eventually brought the whole fabric to view from its 
foundation." A very plausible conjecture, since the 
time that elapsed from the settlement of the Island, to 
the time when the stone built Wind Mill was bequeath- 
ed by Governor Arnold, was the immense period of twen- 
ty-nine years. 

Although, as I said before, it is of very little conse- 
quence to the public in genera), when or by whom the 



THE CONTROVERSY. o/ 

old fabric was erected, or for what purpose intended ; 
it is of vast importance to the Antiquarian and Histori- 
an, that it should be determined on the basis of truth, 
incjntrovertibly, that it was erected by the Northmen, 
prior to the discovery of this continent by Columbus ; 
but it is unworthy of those whose duty it is to search 
after truth, to take false and unwarrantable means to 
attain their end, or countenance those who may, do so ; 
it is their duty, when they are convinced that they have 
been led into error, to abandon and expose whoever 
may attempt it. It seems to have been the object of 
soms, through whose means and deceptive information, 
the report of Professor Scrobein was procured, to prove 
that the Northmen or their offspring from the borders 
of the Si. Lawrence, progressed as far along the coast 
as this island, and that the old tower in Newport was 
built by them, and to establish the fact on its similarity 
of construction to many in the North of Europe and on 
the St. Lawrence, &lq>. 

It is very well established from history and tradition, 
if founded in truth, that the Northmen discovered and 
inhabited the North-eastern part of this continent long 
prior to the discoveries of Christopher Columbus ; and 
that their offspring in the 11th century, coasted as far 
westward as the Vineyard ; that ought to be satisfac- 
tory to the Historian and Antiquarian, for all the pur- 
poses they have in view; and there is no evidence of the 
Northmen ever having visited this island, except the 
sameness of construction of the old ruin at Newport,with 
some in Norway, &-c., and on the St. Lawrence; and 
that is no evidence at all, since we find there is one ex- 
actly similar on the Island of St. Thomas's in the West 
Indies. 

"The Newport Ruin," which, until within a very 
few years, was known only as '7As old stons mill,^' was 
generally supposed to be budt by Gov. Arnold, for a 
grist-mill, from the evidence already referred to, but it 
is corroborated by tradition from generation to genera^ 
tion, down to his great grand-son, Sanford Arnold, who 
has been dead but a few years, and was well known by 



38 THE CONTROVERSY. 

many of the old inhabitants of Newport. Sanford Ar- 
nold, with whom I was well aeqiiainted, and never 
doubted his veracity, always said, when enquiries were 
made of him, in regard to the old stone mill, that it was 
undoubtedly built by his great grand-father Gov. Ar- 
nold;, that his father, Josiah Arnold (who died at an 
advanced age, long since the revolution) always spoke 
of it as his grand-father's Stone Mill, as if he built it, 
and he had heard him often say, that, it was erected be- 
tween the years 1653 and 1660. This I b^ve heard of- 
ten repeated. "Antiquarian" must be satisfied by this 
time, there was never any excavation and examination 
made as related by Professor Scrobein, in the report al- 
luded to, if he was the author of it, and that it was a 
gross fabrication without the least foundation in truth, 
and I now leave it to him to explain how the mill came 
into existence and its object. 

One of the Oldest Inhabitants 
OF Newport. 



Brow^n University, > 

JProvideiice^ June 21, 1847. | 
In my previous correspondence with you on the s ub- 
ject of the " Old Ruin" at Newport, I have, at some 
length, presented as my reason the desire of obtaining 
and imparting historical knowledge, and analogical rem- 
iniscences, any of which duly authenticated, and tending 
in the least degree to consolidate the broken and scat- 
tered history of our own country and section in the 
earlier ages, are essentially desirable at this time. Hav- 
ing devoted myself to this subject (when other pursuits 
would permit) its importance has been gradually devel- 
oped to my mind. In addressing you, and through you 
the estimable citizens of your town, I have not intended, 
and my various duties would forbid me, were I so dis- 
posed, to enter the arena of controversial strife with an 
unknown opponent. The facts presented cannot l)e 
controverted ; they emanate from a high source, and in 
selecting and arranging such as are applicable to our 



THE COiVTROVERSY. 39 

location, I am but consolidating labors, ably, very ably, 
wrought out by other hands. As an antiquarian, not 
so deeply versed, perhaps, in land titles and legitimate. 
deeds as " One of the Oldest Inhabitants" of your an- 
cient town, I am content to receive and abide by the 
historical data and trutlis elicited and promulgated by 
the Royal Society of Copenhagen, a source, the author- 
ity of which, never yet doubted, I am unwilling even to 
question. The results attained by the labors of the dis- 
tinguished scholars associated with that fountain of 
science, have for ages been adopted as the text-book of 
the scholar and historian. The honored names of Pon- 
tipoddin, Rasenburg, Whitinler, Grissenback, and Shur- 
wuriz, with those of later days, Velrischen,Rafn, Graetz, 
Scrobein, and Greisle, will descend to remote 
posterity, meriting justly the laudation and respect of 
all true and devoted lovers of knowledge. 

A recent elaborate article in the ^Herald, of your 
place, of the 10th and 17th insts., a counterpart of that 
which I have previously noticed, affords sufficient ma- 
terial for lengthy argumentation, did the necessity exist 
of refuting assertions uttered at random, and unsup- 
ported by any evidence to render so skeptical a position 
tenable. The unwavering tenacity of *' One of the 
Oldest Inhabitants" to liis (I suppose the masculine) 
own peculiar and self-constituted opinion of the erec- 
tion and intent of the " Old Ruin" should, but for the 
interest of science, be excused and revered rather than 
condemned, and its innocent fallacy exposed. Enter- 
taining, perhaps, from childhood, these peculiar ideas, 
imbibing new strength in their belief with each pro- 
gressive advance in knowledge, supported and confirmed 
in his opinions by the possession of a copy of the *' last 
will and testament" of Governor Arnold, it is not 
therefore unreasonable that he should still adhere to his 
cherished fancies, and deny the evidences by which the 
claims of history are so positively asserted and so for- 
cibly maintained. The book of Nature has been always 
wide-spread before us, yet are we unable to fathom its 
mysterious depths. The book of Art is day by day re- 
8 



40 -rfE CON.TROVKRSY. 

vealing new and astounding truths ; and because we 
cannot, with our giant minds,, conceive, and with a single 
glance survey the mighty wonders which its mystery 
conceals, shall we deny its high and holy truths ? 

I cannot, in critical detail, review the article of " One 
of the oldest inhabitants." His caustic reflections 
upon Antiquarian for citing indisputable authorities, 
and the temerity with which he denounces as fabulous ^ 
established and authenticated matter of history, betray 
a limited knowledge of the scientific advance of his own 
age, and an incapacity of exemplifying the subject of 
his own adoption by correct chronological memoranda 
of the early history of his native State. His entire 
misconception of the Reports of the Royal College of 
Copenhagen, evince a readiness, rather than ability, to 
contest their truth. The report of Professor Scrobein 
as the result of his mission only, was communicated to 
the Royal Society four years previous to that of the 
Committee of which Profs. Rafn and Graetz constituted 
a majority, which latter, embodying that of Prof S., was 
approved by the Royal College and published by them, 
in conjunction with other information, umfer the title 
of " Antiquitates Americanae," copies of which were 
presented to many literary Institutions in New England. 
After denouncing as fictitious the report alluded to, the 
'-' Oldest Inhabitant," or " one of them,'' arrays himself 
as champion and defender of the Royal College, and 
endeavors to show that, through their excessive credu- 
lity, they have been made the victims of mis-placed 
confidence, and thereby imposed a grand fraud upon the 
world in general. Truly an arrogant position, and an 
envious labor. To rebut this, evidence is useless, ar- 
gument is unnecessary. Can it be supposed, is the idea 
for an instant to be harbored, that a man possessing the 
liigh literary acquirements of Prof Scrobein, enjoying 
a world-wide reputation, occupying the exalted position 
of " Prof Geologiae" in one of the chief literary insti- 
tutions of Europe, a position in point of celebrity second 
to none, and attainable but by few, should, under any 
pretence, practise dissimulation and deceit .which would 



THE CONTROVERSY. 



41 



inevitibly result in degradation and disgrace! or can 
it be admitted that the Royal College, during the inter- 
val of six years which transpires from the promulgation 
of the report of Profs. Rafn and Graetz, to the publica- 
tion of "Antiquitates Americanae", holding uninterrupted 
correspondence with similar Institutions in this country, 
and especially with the Historical Society of Rhode Is- 
land, — should not have discovered so immense a fraud, 
had any existed ? * * * * * 

It is a remarkable philosophical fact in the human 
economy that as we advance in the journey of life to- 
ward the period of our second childhood, the objects 
which attracted and impressed the mind of early youth, 
are revived in all the freshness of life's spring-time. 
The chief source upon which the *' Oldest Inhabitant," 
or '* one of them''' relies, is his own memory and that 
of a gentleman who has resided forty years in very close 
proximity to the " Old Ruin." Their united memories, 
however, cannot recall the period, or furnish the date of 
the reported excavation. Of the particular hour in 
August, 1832, or the time consumed in the survey of 
Prof. S., I acknowledge myself incompetent to testify. 
These items do not comprise a part of the Report, nei- 
ther am I suprised that the memory of the " Oldest la- 
habitant," or "o/ze of tliern^^ in this particular instance, 
as in others, should fail, for according to his own article, 
from the vivid recollection which he possesses of trivial 
events, transpiring at the early period of the Revolution, 
it is but reasonable to apprehend that he has attained 
that measure of human experience when the mental en- 
ergies, if apparently retaining their pristine vigor, are 
writhing under the inflictions which the hand of Time 
imposes. 

His memory upon v\fhich he so confidently trusts, 
appears to be of peculiar constitution ; not of the in- 
fallible and comprehensive order, but diverging, scat- 
tering, eccentric. Where money is the object in '97 
it gathers its energies and applies its powers ; but 
when, in '32, the claims of science demand a tribute, it 
takes to itself wings and is soon enveloped in the misi^. 



42 THE rONTROVFRSr, 

of forget fulness. Not only are the excavations report- 
ed totally denied, but others known to have been made 
at prior and subsequent dates ; and one only, in which 
those ubiquitous adventurers, the money-diggers, were 
conspicuous, is in any degree admitted or remembered ; 
and this, though perfected at the tranquil hour of mid- 
night, is so minutely and vividly described, that we 
could fain believe experimental knowledge far the best. 

That the excavations reported were made, no doubt 
can exist, except in the minds of those who, from 
prejudice or policy, are disposed to withhold their as- 
sent to established truths. Owing to the necessary ab- 
sence of the officers of the Army alluded to, and the 
removal by death, of other witnesses of 183:2, it might 
be difficult in connexion with other causes, were the 
locations of the survivors known, to collect, at this day, 
the living testimony required, except, perhaps, in the 
persons of a Genoese gentleman residing at Newport, 
(a Mr. Burtimer,) and the gentlemanly proprietor of the 
"Old Ruin" in question. These, I am credibly inform- 
ed by estimable citizens, are ready at any time to yield 
their testimony, should it be required. 

Other sources, however, remain, by which the frivo- 
lous objections of the "Oldest Inhabitant," or "one of 
them," are easily refuted. Since the period of '32, 
two distinct and separate excavations have been made, 
the latter of which, in 1841, was projected and comple- 
ted by a gentleman residing at Nev/port, who was in 
some subordinate capacity attached to the Treasury 
Department. This, though unimportant, and not at- 
tended by any novel developements, is sufficient con- 
clusively to prove that, for historical accuracy, the me//.- 
07'ies of two of the "Oldest Inhabitants" are not to be 
implicitly confided in. 

The Icelandic Chronicles, for many years deposited 
in the archives of the Royal Society of Copenhagen, 
are the authority upon which are based the labors of 
that Institution. All that is known of the early his- 
tory of this continent is contained in them,' and sub- 
stantiated by the records of the voyages of Thorrin 



THE CONTROVERSY. 43 

Thornitidditiaiii Kirls.?ns Gutiaulasson, previous to the 
discovery of Helluland, Vinland, and Forda-stran-dir, 
which are now New England. These, in the original 
parchment on which they were transcribed, are still in 
the possession of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, at 
Sohalhult, in Denmark. From this it was shown that 
portions of their own people were in possession of a far- 
distant country ; its climate, productions and natural 
b3aatie3 were vividly described. Prompted by fraternal 
sympathy as well as national prid3, the Royal College, 
as early as 1716, under sanction and with support of the 
Dmish Government, first undertook the laborious task 
of tracing the history of their own people on this conti- 
nent. From these it b3comes known, that besides many 
others in different locations, there was at Newport, R. I., 
a temple of their own order, built by men of their own 
nation, in their own peculiar and enduring style ; and 
when the period arriv3d which was to consummate this 
important undertaking, and solve the mystery of the lost 
colonists, it was but natural to suppose that their atten- 
tion would be attracted hither ward. 

Had it not been for these, the history of the " Old 
Ruin," would have remained unwritten, and the opin- 
ion been generally received, that this important struc- 
ture, built at a period when architectural facilities were 
unknown, with so great labor and inevitable expense, of 
most beautiful design, and enduring as the rocks be- 
low it, was built by Governor Arnold, in the 17th centu- 
ry for the ordinary purposes of a Wind-mill. As will 
might it be assumed, centuries hence, that Trinity 
Church of Newport, the most symmetrical architectural 
monument in New England, w^as erected for a cider-mill 
in the 19th century. The history of the "Old Ruin," 
subsequent to the settlement of Aquidneck is not our 
purpose. That it existed at that time can not only be 
inferred from various Indian inscriptions* upon its inte- 
rior surface, but positively proved. Had it, as claimed, 

* These inscriptions, evidently Indian, Wafi-xit-a, Uxa-ata-win-, 
tliougii distinctly traced by Catherwood and otliers, are not relie i 
upon hj A,ntiquxriau3, as they mijht p^Wibly bo iinpuitiau:*. 



44 THE CONTROVERSY. 

been erected by Arnold, it would certainly have descend- 
ed in record or tradition ; for no structure of so great 
proportions exists which is attributed to the first settlers, 
(so called.) That it was not intended as a mill is evi- 
dent, for at the period claimed for its erection, there was 
not in that settlement or those adjacent, a Wind-piill of 
any description. The corn used was ground, among 
the wealthier classes, in small hand-mills of foreign man- 
ufacture, while the poorer classes were content with us- 
ing two flat stones. The structure at St. Thomas, re- 
ferred to by the " Oldest Inhabitant," is another con- 
vincing proof of the great age of the "Old Ruin." Blue- 
beard's Castle, to which he refers, was standing some- 
what dilapidated, as at present, when the island was first 
discovered by Columbus ; and it is matter of history, 
that the great navigator, in attempting to improve upon 
the design, by building a castle of immense mas^nitude, 
lost his liberty, by order of Queen Isabella. After tra- 
versing great space, over which I cannot follow at pres- 
ent, the " Oldest Inhabitant," or "one of them," takes a 
final leave of the old wind-mill, and assigns to Antiqua- 
rian the task of explaining its object and history. This 
is the design in the lecture proposed, and although it 
may be insufficient to remove the prejudices which three- 
score years and iQn have confirmed, still, such an array 
of f^icts, gathered from authentic sources, and illustrated 
by drawings and diagrams, from the Royal College at 
Copenhagen, and the British Museum, will be presented, 
as will secure the approbation of the reverent and can- 
did scholar. Very truly, yours, 

Antiquarian. 



To Antiquarian, ) 

Bruwn University, Providence, R. I. ] 
When at the termination of my last article on the 
subject of the "Old Stone Wind Mill," I assigned to 
" Antiquarian" the task of explaining its origin and 
object, it was with a viev/ of giving him an opportunity 
to correct the error in wliich he was involved. I was 



THE CONTROVERSY. 45 

confident from the opinion universally expressed, that 
the report attributed to Professor Scrobein was a fic- 
tion, and v/ithout the least foundation in truth ; that 
Antiquarian must have been convinced of his error, and 
would be ready to acknowledge the total groundlessness 
of the pretended report alluded to and attributed to 
Prof Scrobein, — and which, if made by him to the 
Royal Society of Antiquarians at Copenhagen, had 
grossly deceived the Royal College, and their action, 
founded on the report, (so well contrived to operate 
upon their national pride, as an evidence that they were 
the discoverers of the New World, long prior to the 
discovery by Columbus,) had deceived the world, and 
that himself was among those deceived, — and that I 
should not again have occasion to revert to the subject. 
But the tenacity with which Antiquarian adheres to 
his former error, regardless of the indubitable evidence 
already adduced, by which the Report attributed to 
Prof. Scrobein had been proved false and groundless, 
and the manner in which he endeavors to turn that evi- 
dence into ridicule, which he could not gainsay, and 
avoids by expressing his indisposition " to enter the 
arena of controversial strife with an unknown oppo- 
nent," — as he avoided the same evidence once before 
on the pretence that the tedious document could not be 
submitted [published] in consequence of its great 
length : — the ridiculously positive manner in which An- 
tiquarian has treated the subject in his communication 
in the Newport Daily News of the 21st and 22d inst., 
obliges me, in support of the opinions and statements I 
have already expressed and made, to advert once more 
to the subject. Antiquarian again refers to the report 
of Prof Scrobein, as if he considered it correct and ten- 
able, although its falsehood as he must be aware from 
his own knowledge of facts, is stamped on the face of 
it. If I liave not already, I will before I dismiss the 
subject, prove the absolute falsity of the report alluded 
to, and the correctness of my own statements to every 
unprejudiced and candid mind. 

When, in a former communication in answer to '^\n- 



46 THE CONTROVERSY. 

tiquarian," I stated and proved by undeniable evidence^ 
that it was within the knowledge or memory of the old- 
est inhabitants, who had lived from forty years to " three 
score and ten," within a short distance of the Old Ruin, 
that no excavation had been made around it to their 
certain knowledge, as stated in the report attributed 
to Prof. Scrobein, I did not depend on my own mem- 
ory or that of the Hon. Stephen Cahoone, General 
Treasurer of the State, the gentleman to whom 
I alluded, who had lived many years within 100 yards of 
the Old Ruin, and who was most likely to recollect if 
any excavation had been made, excepting such as be- 
fore noticed, which both that gentleman and myself 
recollected, — but on the testimony of many others, who 
did not reside in the immediate vicinity of the Ruin. 
I am aware that the old fabric was visited some years 
since (it may have been as long ago as 1832,) by Col. 
Totten, of the U. S. Engineers, with several officers of 
the Army then stationed here, accompanied by a s^tran^ 
ger who might have been, as far as I know, Prof. Scro- 
bein. I understood the object of Col. Totten was to 
ajscertain whether the foundation of the Ruin com- 
menced on the rock, which in some places on that ridge 
of land lies near the surface, or whether it was laid on 
inverted arches, for what object I never knew, but he 
was not allowed by the proprietor to dig sufficiently deep 
io eifect his purpose. I am also aware that Capt. Fatio, 
when he commanded the Revenue Cutter on this sta- 
tion, came on shore with part of his crew with a view 
of making excavations around the Old Ruin, and I was 
informed at ihe time by Capt. Fatio, that he could not 
obtain permission from the proprietor. I have been re- 
cently informed by a citizen of this place, of strict 
integrity and honor, that he accompanied Col. Totten 
and the Officers with him at the time above alluded to, 
and was present during the whole time of their opera- 
tions, that he was the only citizen of Newport present, 
and that there was a stranger present, but not hearing 
him speak, he did not know whether he was a foreigner 
or a native citizen. They had an iron bar and pick-axe 



THE CONTROVERSY. 47 

with them, and sounded with the iron bar to ascertani 
the depth of the toj) of the foundation below the sur- 
face — they removed a few sods on the outside, and 
dug a few holes near the pillars, none of them exceed- 
ing one foot deep, when they were forbid proceeding 
further and desisted. This slight examination could 
not by any means be considered an excavation, particu- 
larly of the magnitude of that stated in the report at- 
tributed to Professor Scrobein as having been made by 
him. 

After the publication of the report now under dis- 
cussion, some few years since, which was represented V 
to be a report of Professor Scrobein in relation to the 
old ruin at Newport, it was generally supposed to be 
an absurd legendary tale, too absurd to gain credit with 
the public, written by some Troilopc of the masculine 
gender, as a hoax, not so much for deception, as to jer 
the Yankees for their many foolish pretensions in rela- 
tion to origin, discoveries, h'uih, descent, &c. It was 
then considered in this vicinity, to be so totally void 
of truth as not to require an attempt to refute it, be- 
cause it was thought no one could believe it a genuine 
report, and the evil would correct itself as the misrep- 
resentations of Madam Troilopc had uniformly done, 
if this could be proved to have been the origin of the 
report, (and there is good ground to believe it can,) 
and that it v/as palmed oif upon Professor Scrobein in 
so plausible a manner by some miscreant who had gain- 
ed his confidence, as to induce him to believe it cor- 
rect in its details, and to present it as the result of his 
labors, it would exonerate him from the design to 
deceive the Royal College — and although his extreme 
credulity would add nothing to his merits, or exalt his 
character in the opinion of the world, it would prove 
the truth of the adage that 'Svhen great men err they err 
greatly''; and in some degree relieve him from the dilem^ 
ma in which he has involved himself, which must oth- 
erwise "inevitable/ result in degradation and in dis- 
grace.'' It would tend much more to the credit of 
Antiquarian, whose object ought tobe toput down false' 
8 



4fc< THE CONTROVEUbJY. 

hood and sustain the truth, to take some plausible and 
tenable means to relieve the Professor from the unen- 
viable position in which he is involved, if he is deserv- 
ing of the character so vividly portrayed by Antiqua- 
rian, (from which I feel no desire to detract) than to 
fasten upon him a report so evidently false in all its parts. 
I shall not attempt to follow "Antiquarian" through 
all his sarcasms, and muendoes, which I deem unwor- 
thy of notice. I have never in any instance "denied 
the evidences by which the claims of history have 
been positively asserted," and the truth of which has 
been maintained. Nor do I acknowledge having cast 
caustic reflections upon Antiquarian for citing indis- 
putable authorities, or denounced as fabulous, estab- 
lished and authenticated matters of history. I may 
have, in the opinion of Antiquarian, "betrayed a limit- 
ed knowledge of the scientific advances of the age — 
and an incapacity to exemplify the subjects of my 
own adoption by correct chronological memoranda 
of the early history of my native State," as is exem- 
plified by the learned Professor, who writes under the 
signature of "Antiquarian, Brown University, Provi- 
dence, R. I." Although I have not had the advanta- 
ges of a College education, and have passed my grand 
climactcrirk, I have the vanity to think that I have not 
an ^'entire misconception of the reports of the Royal 
College of Copenhagen," nor have "evinced a readiness 
rather than ability to contest their truth.'* Happily 
my faculties are not so much impaired, nor am 1 sa 
heavily pressed by the hand of time, that I cannot dis- 
tinguish fair end undisguised truths, from barefaced 
and pnlpnhle falsehoods. 

In the foregoing, I have recited the report attribu- 
ted' to Professor Scrobein, as published by "Antiquari- 
an" himself. I liave heretofore asserted that no exca- 
vation was made around the old ruin by Professor Scro- 
bein, as stated in his report, and have referred to am- 
ple evidence to satisfy every candid and unprejudiced 
mind of the entire truth of the assertion. 

When the facts stated in this communication shall be 



thl: controversy^. 



4D 



represented to the ''Royal Society of Autiquamus al. 
Copenhao-en" as they assuredly will be, if the Royal 
College does not retract the position they have assum- 
ed in consequence of the imposition, and publish their 
recantation in such a manner as shall render the a«^i- 
dote as diffusive as the poison, they will not do their 
duty to the world, and the records of the "Royal So- 
ciety of Antiquarians at Copenhagen," which has hith- 
erto enjoyed the confidence of the world in general, 
will no longer be relied upon as 'Hlic text-book of thz 
scholar and historian,'^ or the ''Antiquarian,'^ 

When at the close of my former communication, I 
took my leave of the old wind mill, I really thought 
I had given "Antiquarian his quietus, and that I should 
hear no more from him on the subject, but he has again 
referred to it, in a vein of irony, still more ridiculous 
than heretofore. He ridicules the opinion expressed 
by me, which coincides with the opinion always enter- 
tained by nine-tenths of the inhabitants of the island, 
that the old ruin was built by Gov. Arnold in the 17th 
century, for the ordinary purposes of a wind-mill, and 
says, "As well might it be assumed, centuries hence, 
that Trinity Church of Newport, the most symmetrical 
architectural monument in New England, was erect- 
ed for a cider-mill, in the 18th century." This simik, 
in which there is as much rhyme as reason, is totally 
unworthy of a -Prq/ess(>r in Brown University, as set- 
ting an example c^ exceeding bad taste to ihe students 
in the institution/ "Antiquarian" may rest assured, 
that without looking centuries ahead, the opinion of 
mankind, taken at this day, would decide that there is 
as much probability that Trinity Church was original- 
ly built for a cider-mill, as that the old stone mill was 
erected for a Haptistcry, or a place of religious wor- 
- nhip . 

The question has been asked v/hy build it with stone, 
when the land was covered with trees ? and why build 
it on pillars and open below ? To the first, I answer, 
because at that period there were no saw-mills to saw 
th3 timber into plank and boards, and the stone of 



^" THE CO>{TKOVERSY". 

which it was built was on the land near where it was 
erected ; the shells to make the lime, and the sand 
and gravel to make the mortar, were on the beach, 
within three quarters of a mile ; and the wood to burn 
the shells to lime was on the spot. To the second 
question I answer, because it was built by people just 
from Europe, where the Wind-mills at that time were 
built, and have been from that time to this, of the same 
form. In the Penny Magazine of the Society for the 
diffusion of useful knowledge, for November, 1836, 
page 4S0, there is an engraving of a Wind-mill at 
Chesterton, Warwickshire, England, erected after a de- 
sign of Inigo Jones, which, without the roof and vanes, 
would be a fac simile of the old mill at Newport. An 
aged ship master of this town, of the first respectability, 
and of undoubted integrity, who has been many voy- 
ages to the North of Europe, informs me, that he has 
seen there more than forti/ Wind-Mills of the same 
material and construction as the Old Wind Mill here, 
and he had the curiosity once to ask, at one of them, 
why they were built on pillars and open between them, 
and was informed that on this construction, the wind 
having a free passage through, there was no eddy wind 
caused, to make a back sail, and lessen the power. — • 
A gentleman just returned from a two years' tour in 
in Europe, informs a friend who feels an interest in 
the present discussion, that in his travels he hgs seen 
in different parts of Europe more than a hundred^N'iYni- 
mills of the same material and construction. A gen- 
tleman a few days since procured a quantity of the 
cement or mortar from the wall of the old stone house 
in Spring street, which was built by Henry Bull, one 
of the first purchasers of the Island, immediately after 
the first settlement of the town, in 1638, and speci- 
mens from several other ancient buildings and stone 
chimneys, and some from the tombs of Governor Ar- 
nold and his wife, and from the stone mill, and ana- 
lyzed and compared them, found them of the same 
quality, and composed of shell lime, sand and gravel, — 
and considered it a very strong evidence that they were 



THE CONTROVERSY. .>! 

built not far frora the same time, all probably within 
a period of thirty or forty years from each other. I 
feel no enmity towards "Antiquarian," because I con- 
sider him under a delusion, as it respects the old ruin. 
I should be pleased to hear a lecture from him on the 
Antiquities of Rhode-Island, and the adjacent States, 
illustrated if you please by drawings and diagrams from 
the Royal College at Copenhagen and the British Mu- 
seum. But if he should attempt, after reading this 
communication, to prove the correctness of the report 
attributed to Professor Scrobein, which every body 
here knows to be entirely \vithout foundation in truth, 
— or to prove any thing from the decisions of the Roy- 
al College at Copenhagen founded on the deception, 
he will fail to alter the universally expressed opinion of 
the citizens of Newport, as well as that of the stran- 
gers now here, on the subject, and render himself at 
the same time supremely ridiculous. 

One or the Oldest Inhabitants. 



Newport, March 23, 1843. 
In conformity to the declared intention of the writer 
to represent the facts to the Royal Society of Antiqua- 
rians at Copenhagen, he forwarded to the President of 
the Institution by the favor of the Hon. George Ban- 
croft, our Minister in England, through the Danish Le- 
gation in London, a copy of the. Herald of the Times 
and Rhode Islander of Aug. 6th 1847, which contained 
the full report attributed to Professor Scrobein, as pub- 
lished by " Antiquarian, Brown University, Providence, 
Rhode Island," with a letter calling the attention of the 
Royal College to the subject, (which is too lengthy and 
quite unnecessary to be published) asking the favor of 
an answer, if such a report had ever been made to the 
Society, and acted upon as stated in the report. To 
this communication the waiter has just received an an- 
swer, *in respect to which it is barely necessary to remark, 
that the description given by Dr. Webb, as well as the 



* Appcivibc. Letter C. 
9 



52 THE CONTttOrEESr.- 

drav/ings which were transmitted, though in their geji- 
eral contour correct, are hi their minutioe visibly incor- 
rect, so decidedly so, as to mislead the judgment of 
those best skilled in the history of architecture, and to 
render it impossible for them to determine with any re- 
liable precision the period to which the structure may 
be referred^ there is no reliance therefore upon the 
opinions pronounced by the ablest judges skilled in the 
history of aixhitecture, founded on data so incorrect as 
those submitted to their inspection. 

The Royal Society of Antiquarians at Copenhagen, 
wiiich is universally considered as the source of correct 
information on facts relating to subjects of Antiquity, 
have been imposed upon by unprincipled miscreants in 
this country. As an instance of their success in their 
attempts at deception, I would refer to the following : — 
The inscription on the Dighton Rock^ which is un- 
doubtedly an Indian inscription in commemoration of 
some great battle, and was so pronounced by General 
Washington, (when a copy of it was shown to him at 
Cambridge during the Revolutionary War, he having 
seen many similar to it in the Indian country,) and is 
8o considered by Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq., Professor 
of Geology in the service of the United States, who 
visited the Rock the last summer, and who has seen 
many of the same description in various parts of the 
country, from Maine to the source of the Mississippi, 
and is acquainted with the meaning of many of the 
characters in the inscription, — this- inscription has been 
copied by some designing wretch,* and forwarded to the 
Royal Society of Antiquarians at Copenhagen, undoubt- 
edly for deception, and published in the work alluded to 
by Professor Rafn, entitled Antiquitates Americanac .. 
The version of the inscription published in that work, 
and distributed throughout Europe and America, was 
altered so as to make it appear to have been the work 

* The autiior of this imposition, as well as the report attributed to- 

Scrobciv, is suppoded to be a foreigner, a few years ."niice a resident 
iii thii town. 



THE CONTKOV'EKSr, 53' 

of the Scaiidiiiuv^iaiis, by altering the cliaracler3, ami 
additiir ill the body of the inscription, the characters, O 
R I N X, which is said to be the name of one of their 
early navigators; such unwarrantable conduct is dis- 
graceful to the authors, an imposition on that highly res- 
pectable institution and the world, and ought to be 
discountenanced and exposed by every admirer of the 
correctness of facts relating to ages passed. The So- 
ciety have (from misrepresentations made to them in 
regard to the " Newport Ruin," as it has of late been 
called) been drawn into an error in supposing that their 
Scandinavian forefathers visited in the 10th century, the 
island of Rhode Island, At the remote period referred 
to in the letter of Professor Rafn, they may have visited 
Massachusetts, and reported it by its true Indian name, 
and if they had visited this Island, it is reasonable to 
suppose they would have called it by the name it was 
called by the native inhabitants, Aqucthneck, It wa» 
not called Rhode Island until 1645, as appears from the 
following extracts from the Old Colony Records. " At 
a General Court held at Newport on the 15th day of 
the 1st month 1644 : — It is ordered by this Court that 
ye Island commonly called Aquethneck, shall be from 
henceforth called the Isle of Rhodes, or Rhode Island." 
There is no doubt that the Northmen discovered in 
the 10th century, the Eastern coast of this Continent, 
and visited that part called by the Indian inhabitants 
Massachusetts, but it is doubtful if they visited at that 
period the Island of Aquethneck, now Rhode Island 
There does not appear from any history, or tradition 
from our ancestors, that there was any tradition among 
the Indians of Aquethneck ever having been visited by 
white men, before the settlement of the country by our 
British ancestors. When the first white inhabitants 
settled on the Elizabeth Islands, there was a tradition 
among the Indians, that the Vineyard had been visited 
many ages before by a colony of white men, who came 
there in a vessel from the North, and remained there for 
a season, and returned to the North in the Winter, with 
asi intention of returning there anrain the next vear.but 



o4 THE CONTROVERSY. 

never came back, and were supposed to have been lost; 
and the same tradition was rife among the Indians on 
the main and remains to this day. It is very probable 
those were the Northmen from the borders of the St. 
Lawrence, and that the Vineyard Island was the extent 
of tlieir progress westward along the coast. From this 
circumstance, and from sinister motives, it has been en- 
deavored to be shown that the Northmen visited this 
Island in the 10th or 11th century, and called the Island 
" Vineland «S^c." and the Newport Ruin has been en- 
deavored to be palmed upon the world through the Roy- 
al Society of Antiquarians at Copenhagen, as evidence 
of the fact of the visit of the Northmen, and the work 
of their hands, but 

" Let AntiqvMrkins say ivhat they willy 
It's noth'mg but an Old Stone If ill"* 

One of the oldest inhabitants. 



[" Oiir respected fiienJ has, m bis accidental alteration of the coup- 
let be professes to quote from tbe Poem of Aquitlneck betrayed not 
a little poetic inventiveness himself. We quote the paragraph, to the 
last two lines of which he probably refers.] 

Speak ! thou stone mystery that o'ertopp'st the b^ll, 

Fort, baptistery, monunaent or miU, — 

Which, or what art thou ? say ! And is there, ther 

j^io faithful Mather's faet-compelUug pen 

To let men know both whence and what thou art, 

And set at rest the antiquarian heart ? 

How long hath Time held on lus mighty march 

Since first arose thy time-defying archf 

Die thus the astonished Indian on thee, 

A mystery staving at a mystery ? 

A son of Canaan, shall we rather say, 

Viewing the work of brethi-en passed away? 

Was it Phcenician, Norman, Saxon toil 

That sunk thy rock-based pillars 'u the soil? 

How looked the bay — the forest and the hill, 

When first the sua beheld thy walls, old Mill ? 

Alas ! the Antiquarian's dream is o'er, 

Thou art an old stone ivindmill,— nothing more. 



THE CONTilOVERS'/. ij) 

[For symmetry's s;\ke, that each of t{ie three parts 
of our little book may be rounded with a dream* we 
introduce here the following graceful lines, by a lady 
of this town :] 

THE OLD STONE MILL. 

" A stern round Tower of other days" 



Old ruined Tower ! Time from his win 53 bath shall eu 

The dust 01 ages o'er thy history : 
In vain conjecture would explore, or waken 

One echoing tone to tell thy mystery. 

Years have roli'd oa since thou, in strength gigautit', 
Hast stood the storms, which, battling in their might, 

Lash'd into fury all the broad Atlantic, 

And to3s"d its waves around thy sea-girt height, 

Embower'd in shades of forests all primeval. 
Thy stones were laid for shelter or defence, 

But no tradition, with thyself coeval, 

Glides phantom-hke from out the dai-biess dense. 

That lovely Bay,' spread out in placid beauty 

Beneath thy Vails, upon its bosom bore 
Full oft the Phate rover with his booty ; 

And did he rear thee to secure liis store ? 

The Norseman wandering from his regions frozen, 
On "Vineland's" shores delighted once to roam ; 

Perchance thou mark'st the spot his heart had chosen, 
Raised to protect from enemies his home. 

Or — did Aquidians lay thy strong foimdation 
When Narragaasett warriors bold assail'd ? 

If so, — but little to that luckless nation 

Tlicir "stern round Tower" of massive strength avaiiM !. 

But ere they quall'd, from thy grey walls rebounded 

The baffled arms of many a savage foe; 
Wild whoops and yells among the stones resounded. 

And gory scalps hung reeking from thy bi-ow. 



■«■ 



Shaksporo says : 

" Our little life is rounded with a sleep.'* 



^56 THi: CONTROVEIISY. 

TuaquiaheJ, enfeebled, did thej then forsake thee, 

Such warlike efforts evermore to cease ? 
Auii thus, fair Island ! did tliey once more mike tliee 

What they kii foudly tcnn'd thee, Isle of Peace * 

Then solemn sUencc reigned among thy arches, 
Unbroken, save when Nature's voices spoke ; 

The Hosts of heaven, in majestic marches, 
The only Seutineb who round thee woke. 

The wild Deer bounded fearlessly before thee, 

The Wolf's fierce eye-balls 'neath thy shadow gleam'd, 

The Eagle v/heel'd his "flight aerial o'er thee, 

And from tliy battlements the Vulture scream' d. 

Ere long, thy solitu le again mvadcd, 

Saw, midi dim aisles of overarching trees. 

The Pilgi-hii str.iuger, worn with toil and jaded, 
Poui* out wann prayers upon hLi bended Icnees. 

Then fell the forest year by year around thee, 
And habitations rose — and men vv^ere bom, 

Who in no scene of sylvan beauty found thee, 
But on a street, of all thy romance shorn ! 

Yet on thy fate, 'tis said, still hangs suspended 
The red man's destiny — whose hapless race 

Shall on the earth become extinct and ended, 
When thy last stone shall totter from itd place ! 

Rose. 



Note to ths Sixth Stanza. — Rhode-Island was named by the 
Indians. Aqiiidnot, or Aquidneck (i. e. Isle of Peace) the Aquidians 
were driven out by the Narragaasetts, shortly before it was settled 
bv whites. 




^^acn ^ocs^Loc^ ^L>_gaaa 



PART III: 

CONCLUSION 



It remains, now, that we sum up the case, before 
dismissing it to the jury of the public and of posterity, 
and, as is not uncommon with the most impartial 
"^udores en earth, sliow which way our own opinion 
leans ; although, in this our charge, we may do what is 
not generally thought proper, we believe, in the courts 
of law, — put forward some additional items of evidence 
Avhich the counsel had not noticed. We shall in- 
timate, we said, which way our opinion leans, for we 
think it would be presumptuous to say that the advocates 
of either or any theory about the Old Stone Mill have 
yet produced testimony or probability that closes the 
question. 

We have already alluded, in our opening remarks, to 
the theory of the Copenhagen Antiquarians, as express- 
ed by their Secretary, Professor Rafn. This was giv- 
en in the Supplement to the ''Antiquitates America- 
nse," published in 1840, a volume containing an inter- . 
esting letter to him from Dr. Thomas j^. Webb of Bos- rT- 
ton, communicating the first information the Society / 

had received of the old structure, together with Rafn's 
dissertation on the subject, accompanied by illustra- 
tive plates. To this book, of which there are probably 
manv copies in the country, we need only refer the cu- 
ll 



CONCLl's'ION" 



rious reader, as we shall give, in the course of ciif n- 
marks, the substance of what it presents, to the point 
before us. 

It will be seen that Professor Rafn must have expe- 
rienced some abatement of his first confidence by the 
time of his letter to Mr. Melville. He says there, as we 
have seen, that any one ought to be on the spot, to pro- 
nounce with much confidence as to what is to be in- 
ferred from architectural appearances. But let this be 
contrasted with the tone of the following extracts from 
his dissertation, particularly of the sentence we have 
given in Italics ; the clause in capitals we quote as wp 
find it printed : — 

" There is no mistaking in this instance the style m 
which the more ancient stone edifices of the North 
were constructed, the style which belongs to the Ro- 
man or Ante-Gothic architecture, and which, especially 
after the time of Charlemagne, diffused itself from Italy 
over the whole West and North of Europe, where it 
continued to predominate until the close of the 12th 
century ; that style which some authors have, from one 
of its most striking characteristics, called the round 
style, the same which, in England, is denominated Sax- 
on, and sometimes Norman architecture." 

"On the ancient structure in Newport there are no 
ornaments remaining, which might, possibly, have served 
to guide us in assigning the probable date of its erection _ 
From such characteristic- as remain, however, we 
can scarcely form any otiier inference than one, in 
which, 1 am persuaded, all who are familiar with old 
Northern architecture will concur, that this build- 
ing WAS ERECTED AT A PERIOD DECIDEDLY NOT LATER 

THAN THE Xllth CENTURY. "This remark applies, of 
course,'" (he very judiciously adds) "to the original 
building only, and not to the alterations that it subse- 
quently received ; for there are several such alteration.'* 
in the upper part of the building, which cannot be- 
mistaken, and which were, most likely, occasioned by 
its being adapted, in modern tiines, to various uses, as- 
the substructure of a wind-mill, and latterlv as a hay-maora- 



CONCLUSION. 



*-.7 



JAWC. To the same times may be referred the windows, 
the fire-place, and the apertures made above the col- 
\imns. That this building could not have been erected 
for a tclnd-miU,'' (this is the sentence we referred to,) 
''is what ail architect will easili/ discern'' — and what irt 
think, in Newport, it will be difficult to prove. 

But we shall reserve our remarks on this theory till 
we have heard it through. 

"For what use," continues the Professor, '^ was this 
Ante-Columbian building originally intended 1 That 
the primary and principal object of its erection was to 
serve as a watch tower, is what I cannot admit, al- 
though very possibly it may have been occasionally 
used as a station from whence to keep a look-out over 
the adjacent sea. On the contrary, I am more inclined to 
believe that it had a sacred destination, and belonged 
to some monastery or Christian place of worship in one 
of the chief parishes in Vinland. In Greenland there 
are still to be found ruins of several round buildings in 
the vicinity of the Churches. 

" These round buildings have been most likely Ba-p- 
tisteries ; for it was the practice, in early times, to 
erect separate buildings as Baptisteries, distinct from 
the churches near them, it being the received opinion 
that no one could enter the sacred edifice of the church, 
until he had first been initiated by the rite of baptism. 

'^ Among the ruins of Mellifont Abbey, in the 
county of Louth in Ireland, there is found, close to the 
Chapel of St. Bernard, an octagonal structure, in the 
Roman style of the Xllih century, probably coeval witli 
the foundation of the monastery (A. D., 1141.) Each 
side is perforated by an arched door-way, and the ex- 
terior angles are formed by pilasters, on which the 
w^hole structure rests. The inhabitants of the neigh- 
borhood call it a bath ; but it seems more probable, 
iuidthis is also the conjecture of the Irish Antiquari-ins. 
that it was a Baptistery. 

" The Ante-Columbian Structure in Newport bears so 
much resemblance to this octagonal building, that it 
must appear probable, that it v/as intended for a siuiilar 



<>2 CONCLUSION. 

Christian use, and has possibly belonged to a church, 
or .1 monastery founded in Vinland, by the ancient 
Northmen." 

Such is the theory of Professor Rafn, and we confess 
tliat it would seem to us very probable, were it not for 
the traditions of our own neighborhood and perhaps^ 
even in the face of those traditions, it would stagger us, 
were it not for one refractory fact, we mean Arnold's^ 
designation of it in his will. 

*' Mr. Joseph Mumford," (says a deposition signed by 
him and dated Nov. 17, 1834) "now residing at Hali- 
fax, aged about eighty years, formerly of Newport, states 
that his father was born in 1699 in said Newport, and 
that his father always spoke of the Stone Mill in this 
town as the Powder Mill, and that when he was a boy" 
(say in 1764) " his father used it as a hay-mow — that 
there was a circular roof on it at that time and a floor 
above the arches — that he has himself, when a boy, re- 
peatedly found powder in the crevices, sometimes to the 
amount of two or three pounds, and has likewise known 
other boys to find quantities of it." Indeed there is 
abundant tradition to show that the building has been 
used for various purposes, and that, as has been proper- 
ly said, does not prove its original design, and in fact 
the variety of designations given to it at periods not 
very remote from each other might seem to favor the 
theory of its having been, as far back as our ov/n tra- 
ditions extend, too old to admit its original object's being 
known. Still all the titles, vvhether Wind Mill, Powder 
Mill or (simply) Stone Mill, have the nam.e Mill in com~ 
mon and point to our great central argument, Arnold't* 
wilL It will be seen that Mumford notices the circular 
roof which it had about the m.iddle of the last century. 
This agrees with many other old men's testimony, and 
jt is even remembered that, when the change of wind 
required that the wings, with the top, should be turned 
round, it took a yoke of oxen to do it, Mr. John Lang- 
ley, now living in the lower part of the town, about 
eighty years of age, used to hear his. father say that,, 
when he was a boy, he carried corn to that mill to be ground 



CONCLUSION. Chi 

All this, to be sure, does not pi'ovc that it was buili 
(or a mill. But, we confess, the language of Governor 
Arnold in his will (which is given in the Appendix*) 
where he calls it '^ my stone-built Wind Mill" — taken 
in connexion with the tradituns and with the well-re- 
membered fact that the chimney of his house (pulled 
down in 1780) was built of just ruch stone and (very 
hard) shell-cement — does strongly incline us to the con- 
clusion that it ./as built for a Wind Mill and built by Ar- 
nold, We would not, indeed, go to the length, as soHie 
have, of maintaining thai " my stone-built" mean?; 
" which I built of stone," but it does seems to us dith- 
cult, almost to the degree of impossibility, to conceive 
that Arnold would have called it his Wind-Mill, huilt of 
stone, if it had been merely an old structure which he 
had found on his land and used for the substructure. 
of a Vi^ind mill. And we submit one consideration, to 
which we beg the reader's particular attention, as it 
seems to our minds to have great force. It is this : Ar- 
nold, as we have seen, calls the structure '' my t^tone- 
built Wind Mill." But Edward Pelham, to whom the 
building came as the husband of Arnold's grand-daagli- 
ter, simply calls it in his will, t " aw Old Stone Vv^inji 
Mill &c." Now whence this difference in their respec- 
tive modes of designating the object? If Arnold had 
simply found the old relic on his land, or bought it witli 
the land, why should he say, *' my stone-built Wind 
Mill" any more than Pelham should, who was the owner 
of it just as much as he had been ? Why should Arnold., 
as it w^ere, express so much nearer an interest in it than 
Pelham? Will it be said that it was because Pelham only 
got it by marriage, whereas it had been personally as 
well as legally Arnold's ? But Pelham speaks in the 
.same will of " my upper garden," and why not of " niv 
stone-built Wind Mill" ? We see but one satisfactory so- 
lution of this difference of language and that is the sup- 
position that Arnold built the Mill and so conhl call i? 



■:^ Letter A. 

4- Appetidi.Y. Letter B, 

12 



€4 CONCLUSION. 

" my- stone-built Wind Mill." It has, indeed, been said, 
on the other hand, th'itPelham's calling it, in 1743, *' an 
Old Stone Wind Mill" indicates that it could hardly 
have been the work of his wife's grand-father, but would 
seem to favor the theory of its having been of unknown 
origin. This suggestion, however, seems to us to be 
balanced by the fact that Arnold calls it " my stone-built 
wind mill." 

Nov/, further, we shall present certain facts and 
considerations which tend to show with what peculiar 
propriety Arnold could call this structure "iSi?/ stone 
built wind-milL" We have a journal kept by Peter 
Easton, one of the earliest settlers of Newport. In 1663 
he writes : " This year we built the first wind milV* 
and under date of August 28, 1675, he makes entry : 
"on Saturday night, 40 years after the great storm in 
1635, came much the like storm, hleio doion our wind 
mill and did much harm." Now if we suppose, as it 
is very natural to do, that upon this Arnold proceeded 
to build a new and stronger mill, and that this was pre- 
cisely "the old Stone Mill," — as only two years ejapsed 
between this and the date of his will, he might well call 
it " 7ny stone-built wind-mill." 

Once more, and finally, we shall now proceed to 
show, by a chain of circumstantial evidence, how prob- 
able it is that Arnold should have put up some such 
building as this during the period when he must have 
done it if at all. We are indebted for most of our facts 
to Elton's Edition of Cailender's Century Lecture and 
E. R. Potter's very curious and valuable contribution 
to Rhode-Island history, being Vol. III. of the R. I, 
Historical Society's collections. From these authori- 
ties we glean the following items : 

Wm. Arnold, (father of Benedict) "came up the first 
year with JMr. Williams" i. e. came up from Salem to 
the Providence Plantation in 1636. He was then 47 



* The Editor of tliose papers, in a note to the Poem of Aquid- 
neck, asked why this "Mr.st Avind-imll," might not be the uow old 
ttone mill. It will be seen that he has since bcwme bettev 
infonn^d. 



CONCLUSION. 05 

fears old. He was one of the twelve with whom Roger 
Williams shared his Providence and Pawtuxet lands, and, 
"at the same time the island" (of Rhode Island) " was 
inhabited, a number of Providence people, Mr. Arnold 
&c., sate down at Pawtuxet, a place adjoining and 
within their grant." The son, Benedict Arnold,* 
''came up, a man grown, the first winter." Having 
been born in England, in 1615, (Dec. 21st) he was 
about 22, when we find him an inhabitant of Provi- 
dence, and the oldest remnant of the town Records, 
dated Aug. 29, 1637, contains his name among the 
signers of a covenant, promising conformity to the civil 
laws v/hich the majority shall establish. We very 
eoon find young Arnold one of the most prominent 
men in the Colony, as owner of lands, agent in purcha- 
sing them for others, in collecting tribute of the Indi- 
ans, acting as interpreter with them, and other like 
public business. When we say in the Colony, however, 
we use the phrase somewhat loosely, as, indeed, the 
early historians often do. For we find that in 1644 a 
certain Sachem having deeded considerable land in 
W^arwick to Arnold and others, and rival claimants dis- 
puting his right to sell it, Arnold and his party applied 
to the Massachusetts Government for support, and re- 
ceived it, only on condition of submitting themselves 
and their lands to Massachusetts, which they did Sept. 
8, 1642. In 1643, Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connect- 
icut and New Haven, formed a confederation for mu- 
tual defence, but they refused to admit Rhode-Island. 
In 1645, "The commissioners (of the confederate col- 
onies) sent Benedict Arnold and others, messengers to 
the Narragansetts, who returned with an answer. The 
Indians afterwards declared that Arnold had misrep- 
resented them, and it seems he was afraid to venture 
among them for some time after'' Already there would 
seem to have been a growing distance between Arnold 
and Williams, too. For Williams, in a letter about this 
time, speaks of Wm. Arnold's being with him (on some 



* Gov, Arnold wgus great-grand-father to the Traitor, 



IJO CONCLUSION. 

occasion) ''instead of his son Benedict, who withdrnc 
himsdf, though sent unto." Whatever may have been 
the cause, Arnold removed to Neu-port in 1653. He 
was probably by this time married, as we find his son 
Benedict, old eno igh in 1679, to go in an armed sloop 
to visit the garr-son at Providence. In 1651 Wm. 
(^oddington had got himself appointed by the Council 
of State, in England, Governor of Rhode Island for 
life. The people on the main-land sent Yv^illiams and 
Clarke over to England, and had his commission re- 
pealed next year and procured a Patent, under which 
Williams was chosen first President of Rhode-Islraid 
and Providence Plantations. His successor was Bene- 
<iict Arnold, who served from 1657 to 1669, and again 
from 1663 to 1663. Arnold w^as also the first Governor 
and was twice re-elected to the office under the Char- 
ter of Charles II, and the chair is still in existence 
in which he sate^when inducted. 

We find Gov. Benedict Arnold, then, one of the 
most prominent, active and wealthy men in the Colony. 
At his deatu, besides his large grounds on the Island, 
he was principal owner of Conanicut, (Dutch, Goal 
and Coaster's Harbor Islands, he had shortly before 
sold to Nevv-port,) and of extensive tracts on the Nar- 
ragansett shove. It was a time when the feuds of the 
Indians among themselves and with the other colonies, 
kept Rhode Island in continual uneasiness. This Isl- 
and itself, indeed, was for the most part, unmolested, 
"The Indians," says Callender, '*never landed on the Is- 
land in the war time, armed boats being kept plying round, 
to break their canoes, and prevent their making any 
attempts." Arnold, as we have seen, had made him- 
self obnoxious to the Indians, and there is a gentleman 
living, who has heard his father say that Arnold had a 
fort on the wharf back of his house to prevent their 
landing. Moreover we are told by Callender that 
"there was a misunderstanding and some hostilities occa- 
sioned, I think, by some of the Indians (if not Mian- 
tonomi himself) kindling fire in Mr. Easton's land" 
(this was Nicholas Easton, brother of Peter) "Lord's 



CONCLUSION. (>7 

Day, April 4, 1641, whereby an liouse of his was burnt.'' 
This, he says, " though they did not knov/ whether it 
was intentional cr accidental, alarmed the people, and , 
among other measures, they fitted cut an armed boat to 
keep On the Indians from lending. They likewise 
appointed garrison houses to which the people were 
to repair on an alarm." 

Now, then, w^hen we consider all these circumstanes : 
that tlie first wind mill had been blown down ; that the 
first house had been burnt down by the Indians ; that 
Governor Arnold was not popular with the Indians ; that 
he was an able and ambitious man : — is it not altogether 
natural to suppose that, if he did build a wind mill, he 
would build a strong and showy one, one that would 
stand storm and fire, and that would look like a fort at 
least? It is not important to our argument to insist 
j upon the interval between 1775 and '77, as the date of 
j its erection, though the objection on the score of short- 
j ness of time for such a work does not strike us as very 
I weighty, — but if any find that date too improba- 
ble, we are walling to ascribe it to any part of the fif- 
teen years between the building of " the first wind-mill" 
alluded to by Peter Easton, and the date of Arnold's 
will ; — only, if we suppose the structure in dispute to 
have been begun immediately after the destruction of 
Easton's, there is a greater accumulation of reasons to 
show why it should have been built so strongly, as it has 
been proved to have been by the storms of nearly two 
hundred years.* 

The architectural style of the Old Mill (so called) 
has been brought as an objection to the theory of its 
having been built by any of our first settlers. But who 
shall say that Gov. Arnold had not a fancy as well as pol- 
icy about the matter ? It has been handed down by the 
old men that his house had a stately fence before it, and 



* Aud by tlie fiict, whicii we liavo received from the old men, 
that in the Revolutionary -vrax, vv-lien the British had posses^cion of 
the Island, suspecting that signals were made fi-om the Old Mill tu 
the mainland, they midertook to tear it down, but after dulling their 
pickers at it for some time, desisted from tlie attempt. 



6^ (CONCLUSION. 

on the gate posts tail images. To tlie coustrLiction of 
l^is chimney allusion has been made. Possibly, durinnr 
the years oi' his youth in England, he may have seen 
old mills of the kind. Opposite our title-page is an 
engraving of one taken from the Ptnny Magazine of 
1836, called, as we are informed by a gentleman of 
most accurate observation, memory and judgment, re- 
siding on the hill, " an ancient mill," which struck him, 
v.-hen he was passing through Leamington, England, 
ten years ago, as the very counterpart of our old relic, 
and which, tradition says, was built after a design by 
the famous Inigo Jones, and we may add, that Jones 
flourished precisely during the period of Arnold's living 
in the old country. It will be observed that in the pic- 
ture there are stairs in the middle leading up into the 
mill. The object of leaving open arches may have 
been partly appearance and partly to allow free vent for 
the wind and so obviate a loss of power occasioned, 
where the sail falls vertically beside a dead wall, bv 
what is called the backing of the wind. 

But all these speculations, however they may strike 
our readers, are unnecessary to our cause ; whatever 
theory may be adopted as to the date of the Old Mill's 
erection and the reasons for this or that peculiarity in 
its structure, we ask for an explanation, that shall do 
away ours, if possible, of the simple and stubborn fact, 
of Arnold's calling it, in a carefully drawn legal docu- 
ment, "my stone-built wind mill"; and, waiting for 
this, we " leave," in the words of Professor Rafn's con- 
clusion, "to future investigations and researches, whether 
the ancient Tholus in Newport, did really belong to a 
Scandinavian Church or Monastery, where, in alternation 
v.ith Latin masses, the old Danish tongue was heard 
seven hundred years ago ;" and, meanwhile, we will let 
our readers listen to the *' Song of the Wind Mill Spir- 
its," overheard by one of our Rhode Island Poets and 
Antiquarians, who, in the part which we have indicated 
by Italics, seems to have had our old mill in his mind. 



COXf:Ll'.*il()N. 6*0 

.^ons €f Ihe Wind Mill fipirlis. 



Ha, iia I — here "vre are, and the moon has not set ; 

And the mossy old Windmill is standing here yet. 
The harvest is gathered, the summer has gone, 

And again -we rejoice in the scent of the coin. 
Up all, — to the mngs now ! blow high, or blo^v low. 

Round on the old Windmill once more we Avill go I 
The trees have been leafless, their branches all whi'-e. 

Since we left it, last autumn, one cold, frosty night, 
A)id went far* away from the region of snow, 

To see the magnolia and locust-tree blow : 
Then, the warm, sunny fields of the south we tiave trod. 

To see the wliite cotton Imrst out fom its pod ; 
And then, far away to the bright to]-rid zone, 

Where the orange, and lemon, and citron have blovai. 
But once more, the season we love has come roimd, 

And here, to enjoy it, again we are found ; — 
And while the bright moon which now lends vis her beam. 

Is looking alone on the rock and the stream, 
And gently the dews of the midnight distil, 

We will have one more ride on the wings of the mill ! 

Stretch out, then, stretch out, to the end of each wing, — 

And send them all roimd, with a good, hearty swing ; 
Up and down — up and down — send them merrily round, — 

Bear them down on that side, from the sky to the ground : 
Now up ! — send them up : — on this side let them fly 

With a bound from the gi'ound, till they point to the sky — 
Kow they crack : never mind, — they are used to the strain : 

Up with them once more, — now down with them again ! 

Hoiv gaily, that morning, we danced on the hill, 

When \oe saiv the old Pilgrims here building a rnill ; 
There, at day-break, we stood lohcn they laid the first stone. 

And came, every night, till their labor was done. 
Hmo often around its old wings we have hung, 

Arid have gambolled and laughed, and have shouted and sunff. 
Its frame-work all fell, ere a century waned, — 
And only the shaft and the millstones remained. 
It was built all of iiiood, 
And bravely had stood, 
Sound hearted and merry, as long as it could : 
And tlie hardy old men 
Determined that then 
Of firm, solid stone they vjoidd build it again. 
With a catiseiray and draw, 
Because they foresaw 



' CONCLUSION. 

.// would make a good fort in sane hard Indian icar. 

But thcj are all gone, its old biiililers ai-e gone, — 
Tiiey are all in their graves, and a new race is bom : — 

All, all of its builders, — the head which had planned, 
E;ich liand which helped raise it' each honest old hand, — 

They are gone, all are gone, — all are low in the mould , 
And the new mill itself is an hundi'ed years old. 

But still, when the harvest has been gathered in, 
Up here in the moonhght we always have been ; 

[n the soft autumn midnight, still, year after year, 
Tlie "wind and the moonlight have found us all here. 

But when the fi'ost comes and the sleet and the snow, 
And the green leaves are dead, then far southward we go, 

And rove 'mid the rich fields of rice and of cane, 
Till the bright noi-thern summer recalls us again. 

We love the cleai- breeze o'er the pine-covered hill. 
As it sings through the wiugs of the stiu'dy old mill. 

There it comes ! now spring out to the end of each sail, — 
And let each arm bend like a mast in a gale. 

Hound with them, — round with them, — the wind is too slow. 
Bear dovra all together, hallo I there, hallo ! 

FiU the hoppers below — heap them up till they choke, — 
And let the old stones then fly round till they smoke I 

Round, round, send them round with a merry good will : 
Ha ! ha ! we are back to the rattling old mill. 

And Ephraim, the miller, the drowsy old head, 
Who Ues now at midnight asleep in his bed, 
Should he wake, would suppose 
That because the wind blows, 
And for no other reason, — around the mill goes, — 
Wlien, at sumise, he comes, and our work he has found. 

How little he'll know how his gi-ist has been ground, 

Tlien, round, — send it round ! — for our wo]-k must be done 
Ere old Father Ephraim appears with the sun. 

Though fair are the plains of the south and the west. 

We love the gi-een fields of New-England the best. 
For here, while we see o'er the golden-edged plain, 

Each low, fertile liillock all waving with grain. 
We know, that rewai-ding its patience and toil, 

The hand of the free reaps the fruit of the soil. 
We are fi-ee as the blue air around us is free, — 

And so we would have all God's creatiu-es to be. 

Hi), ha I a fi-esh breeze now comes over the liiil : 

Each sail feels its breath : — now thev stiiien and till ! 



CONCLUSION. 

Now, now, all is straining above and below,: — ■ 
And round the quick cii'cle we merrily go — 
ilound, round, — and now hark to the musical tones 
That come quivering out from the whii'liug old stones ! 
What joy can coinpi.re 
With the life tliat we bear ? 
The earth is our p!ay -ground, our home is the ah\ 
How happy are we, 
How happy are we, 
'Midst the beautiful things of the laud and the sea I 

When the moonbeams fall clear, thi-ough the silence of night 

And the dew-ch-ops are sparkhug Uke gems in the light, 
We love, bounding forth w-ith the speed of the gale. 

The rich, teemiug cornfield's sweet breath to inhale ; 
While each stalk gently bends, as they bear us along, 

And waves its green arms in response to our song, 
And the spmdle's tall plume that droops over its head, 

Just moves in the air, as it springs fromoui- tread 

And when our gay revels have drawn to a close, 

'Mid the cool, vordaut foliage, how sweet to repose 1 
Or to rock in the leaves, when all round us is stilled, 
And eon^Dune with the life with which natui'e 13 iuled, 
Which above and below, 
Forever doth flow 
Rejoicing around us, wherever we go, — ■ 
And to mortals unknown, 
To us hath been shewn 
By Him who made all and who sees all alone. 

How often we listen delighted, to hear, 

Beside the green folds^'of the delicate ear, 
The voice of the tender young mother of cora 

Singing 'mid her iau- brood which within it were bom. 
While'' breathing in fragi'ance and cradled in silk. 

They are drawing forth Hfe from her fukiess of milk 

And when the bright days of the summer have fled. 

Its beauty all withered, its verdui-e all dead, 
The care and the toil ol the season all past, 

And the full, golden harvest is gathered at last,— 
When the gay, men-y groups to the husldng repair, 

'Though miseen and unheard, yet we often are there. 
While the chinks of the barn are aU streaming with light, 

And sounds of loud glee wake the echoes of mght, 
Our voices. prolong 
The laugh and the song, 
And ajiswcr each shout that bui-ats foiih from the throng. 

13 



71 



72 CONCLUSION. 

And •when the new gi-ain comes its hoppers to fill, 
How clearly we love the old corn-scented mill. 

Hallo, then. — rouse all ! Ere the night watch is past, 
One more meny round let us have, and the last. 

To the ends of each arm ! — and now pour in the com : 
The daylight is coming, and we must be gone. 

Eound with them ! — ha, ha ! how like wiUows they spring ; 
And the sails go down skimming like birds on tlie wing. 

Rise all with them cheerly, — then down let them come : 
And now hear the stcnes, how they spaikle and hum. 
As they rapidly swing, 
In its fire-ciicled ling 

Each seems like a glad hving creature to sing ! 
Hark, bark ! to their song, how it gushes and svrcUs 

With sounds like the low, dic^tant chiming of beUs. 
Once more, all together : — now, up from below : 

There is light in the East ; — we must go — we must go. 

There's a cloud passing by. 

Over head in the sky, 
And there, for an horn-, we our fortune will tiy ; 

It is time to be gone, 

For the day will soon davm, 
And the cloud reddens now with the tints of the mom. 

It is waiting us there, 

And oiu- troop it must bear 
On a cool, pleasant sail through the pme moming air. 

See, the coming of day, 

We must not delay : 
Up ! thi-ough the blue ether ! up, up, and away ! 

And now, the old mill 

May, go on, if it will, — 
Or fold up its wings, for a while, and be stilL 



APPENDIX ( 
A, 

BENEDICT ARNOLD'S WILL. 

By the permission of God Almighty, I, Benedict Arnold, of 
Newport, in ye colony of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantation3, 
Ac, senior, aged sixty and two years, finding myself subject to weak- 
ness and Infirmities ye usual attendants on aged persons, and consid- 
ering my days are not like to be many that I have to abide in this 
temporal life, and now at the writeing hereof being (tho somewhat 
weak of body yet) in perfect memory and reasonable understanding, 
and resolving it necessary for preventing ye many inconvenienciea 
that may arise for want of seting my house in order and setling my 
temporal estate while I am alive, do therefore make this my last will 
and testament in manner and form following: 

Imprimis. And in ye first place I having full assui'ance of ye infi- 
nite mercy of my Almighty Creator unto my soul do cheerfully and 
willingly recommend ye same into his blessed hands from whom I 
received it, and by whose grace am made willing to wait his pleasure 
for my change from this transitory life, unto a fife in and with him- 
self eternally, and my body unto ye earth fi-om whence by ye Al- 
mighty power and Decree of ye same God it was taken, wilhng and 
appointing that after ray decease my body may be decently interred 
by my Executors hereafter in this writing named, ye charge of said 
interment to be defriiyed out of my personal estate. My body I 
desire and appoint to be buried at ye North East corner of a par- 
cell of ground containing three rod square being of and lying in my 
land in or near ye line or path from my dwelling house leading to 
my Stone built WiuJ-mill, in ye town of Newport, abovemen- 
tioned, the middle or center of which three rods square of ground 
is and shall be ye tomb already erected over ye grave of my 
gi-and-child, Damaris Goulding, there buiied on ye fourteenth day 
of August, 1677, and I desu-e that my deai- & loving wife, Damaris Ar- 



; 4 APPENDIX. 

nold, after her death may be buried near unto nic, on ye South 
side of ye place aforesaid ordered for my own interment, and I do» 
order my Executors to erect decent tombs over her grave and my 
grave in such convenient time as it may be effectually accofm- 
plished, and further 1 do hereby solemnly prohibit ye selling or 
otherwise disposing of said tlxi'ee rod square of ground or any pait 
thereof, but that it be wholly reserved to ye use of my kindred 
relations for so many of them as shall please to buiy their dead 
in the said gi'ound and therefore do or^ier and appoint that they 
shall have fi-om time to time on all such occasions to and from ye said 
burying place, free egress and regress without any molestation from • 
any that shall succeed me in ye land about it. 

Item. In ye next place I will and ordain that all my just debts 
shall be paid, all which at ye writing hereof do not amount to thirty 
pounds sterling, in New England money, either by bill or book due ta 
any or all men whatsoever, imd after clearing all such debts as shall 
appear just, I do give and bequeath vuito my dear, loving and beloved 
wife, Damaris Arnold, aforenamed, and to her proper use and behoof 
during her natural life, and after her decease, to ye proper use and 
behoof of our beloved daughter, Godsgift Arnold, and to her heirs 
and assigns to Lave and to hold, possess and enjoy as her and their ■ 
own true rights and lawful inlieritance forever, that is to say, ye land* 
and tenements hereafter mentioned, namely : ye house and two acres 
of land, be it more or less, that I bought of "VViUiam Haviland, being 
and lying in ye precints of ye town of Newport, above said, bounded 
on ye South and on yc East parts by land nt)w or late in the p )ssession 
of Thomas Clifton or his assigns, on ye West by a highway belong- 
iagtosaid town, and onyeNoith by land that I have bequeathed ta 
my son Josias Ai'uold, and I order ye said line of fence to be made and 
forever maintained by ye occupants of ye premises which I bought of 
"Wm. Haviland aforesaid, as also all that land which I bought of Wnx 
V^ughau being and lying in ye precincts of the said town of Newpoit, 
and by rrie named Spring Harbor lauds containing ninety acres more 
or less in two parcels ye greater of wdiich two pai-cels is bounded on 
ye Noitli by land now or later in ye possession of Henry Bull, on 
ye East by land in ye possession of ye assigns of Wm. Bi-enton» 
Esq., deceased, on ye south by land in ye possession of John Cogges- 
hall, senior, and on ye West by a highway belonging to ye said 
Town. The lesser of ye said parcels of land is bounded on ye 
North by land of Henry Bull aforesaid, on ye East by ye highway 
aforesaid, on ye South paitly by a bi*oad way and partly by land in 
ye possession of ye assigns of George Gardner deceased, and on ye 
West by a creek or cove of salt water, all which the premises to- 
gether with a certain parcell of land in the Close called Stillhouse 
close, being and lying in the precincts of ye aforesaid Town, contain- 
ing by estimation two acres and a quarter, more or less, in two dis- 
tinct parcella each bounded as folioweth, namely ye bigger parcel 
on ye Noi-th and West m part by Roger Goulding's land and on y<i 



APPENDIX. 



75 



North and Exst more lari^ely bj a liiirli^ray belo:i^in5 to ye saii 
Town, oa ye Soafca by m/ so.i 8213 lijs A-aolda laai, aal oa ye 
West by a hlg-liway p.xralell with ye Tx>wa3 highway lea. ling to- 
wards this ye said Beaadict Arnold's" land; and ye lesser parcell of 
the premises is bounded on ye North by a parcel of Roger Gould- 
ing's land aforenamed, on ye East by ye highway last mentioned as 
aforesaid, on ye South by Benedict Arnold's land aforesaid, and on 
ye West by ye sea or harbour of the Town aforementioned, and it is 
ordered that the said Benedict Arnold his heirs and assigns are to 
make and forever maintain a good and sufficient fence in ye line be- 
tween His said land and both ye said parcels of ye premises and ye 
least or last di scribed parcell thereof is to make and forever main- 
tain by ye occupants thereof a good and sufficient fence in ye line 
between it and Roger Groulding's land thereto adjoining as aforesaid 
•11 which ye premised pircells of land lying and being in five dis- 
tinct parts, each bounded as aforesaid, I do give and bequeath to 
ye only proper use and behoof of my said wife Damaiis Arnold for 
her support and in order also toward ye maiutainance of my daugh- 
ter Godsgift Arnold during ye natural life of her mother my said 
wife Damaris Arnold, and in ye mean time to be carefully kept and 
reserved to ye only use and behoof of my said daughter Gods- 
giffc Arnold, after lier said mothers decease for her my said daugh- 
ter Godsgift Arnold to have and to hold use and enjoy to her self 
and to her heirs and assigns as her anl theirs and every or either 
their undoubted rights and lawful inheritance forever. 

Item. I do also give and bequeath unto ye proper use and. be- 
hoof of my said wife Damaris Arnold, during her naturall life and 
after her decease to ye use and behoof of my dearly beloved and 
youngest daughter Freelove Arnold, all and singular ye lands and 
buildings severally hereafter mentioned in p.articular, that is to say 
my dwelling liouse and lands buildings and tenements hereafter 
named, namely one tract of land being and lyeing in ye precincts of 
ye aforesaid Town of Newport containing by estimation sixteen acrea 
distinguished into two pircells by a hi^'hway belonging to ye said 
Town and bounied severally as followeth, thxt is to say, the lesser 
parcell whereon is erected my Warehouse and Wharf, and bounded 
as followeth on ye East by ye highway aforesaid, on ye South by a 
parcell of land 1 have bequeathed mito my son Oliver Arnolcl, on ye 
West by the sea or harbour of Newport, on ye North by land now 
or late in ye possession of Pardon Tillinghast or his assign?, ye other 
and greater pucoll of ye tract of land abovesaid upon which stand- 
cth my dwelling or mansion house and othei- buildings thereto ad- 
joining or belonging as also my Stone Built Wind Mill, and in the said 
parcell is being and lying ye three rod squire of groan 1 abovesaid 
that! hive set apart for a burying p'ace ye whole pareell being 
bounde I as followeth, on ye West by ye highway aforesaid on part 
of ye Noi-th an 1 part of ye Ea^t by a qulUefc of land cont.v.aiag fifty 
ioot sqiare thit I sold and i»w o:* late ia ye.p333e33ioa of Jeremiah 
U 



(O APFEXDIX 

BroTTii, and on ye rest of ye Nortb by a highway, belonging also ka 
ye aforesaid liighway to ye said Town, on ye East by laud naw or 
late in ye possession of Walter Clavlie or his assigns save only a? 
yc Town may order a highway between, an.i on ye S(<nth by laud I 
have bequeathed to my son Jo>iah Arnold, he ye wiid Jusiah Arnold 
his heirs or as^dgns being to maintain a good and sufficient fence in 
ye line between ye premises and his said land. Moreover, I give 
and bequeath unto my said wife, Damaris Arnold, as above said, 
during her natural life, and after her decease to ye use of our said 
daughter, Freelove Arnold, a certain tract of land being and lying 
in ye precincts of the said town, and by me called Lemmington 
farm, containing by estimation, one hundred and thuty acres more 
or less, and bounded as followeth ; that is to say, on ye North by ye 
sea or harbor of ye said town fur ye greater part, and by land in 
possession of John Stanton on ye rest of the North part ; on the Ea^ 
by ye rest of John Stanton's land aforesaid ; on ye South by ye 
Common, and on ye Vf est by ye Common, down to ye sea or har- 
bor aforesaid, ye Northernmost part being divided at present by a 
stone wall from ye Southermost part of ye premises which as yet 
is not fenced, from yc Common on wliich it is bounded as aforesaid, 
all which ye premises, tracts and pai-cels of laud as distinguished by 
ye respective bounds of each of said tracts and parcels before 
mentioned, togetlier with all ye buildings, improvements, fences and 
conveniences upon any and every part of ye pi-emises erected or 
thereupon being or to any part thereof properly belonging, or in any- 
wise hereimto appertaining, I do give and bequeath as above said 
unto ye proper use, and behoof of my said wife Damaris Arnold, for 
her support, and in order toward .ye maintenance of my daughter 
Freelove Arnold aforenamed, dming ye imtural life of her mother, 
my said wife. Damaris Aiilold, and all ye premises I will and order 
to be carefully reserved and Icept to ye use of my said daughter, 
Freelove Arnold, after her said mother's, Damaris Arnold's, decease, 
for her, my said daughter Freelove Arnold, ye premises and every 
part and parcel of ye same above mentioned, to have and to hold, 
possess, use and enjoy to herself, my said daughter Freelove Arnold, 
to her own proper use. and behoof and to ye proper use, and behoof 
of her heirs and assigns as her and their and every or either of her 
or their true rightful and lawful inheritance forever. 

Ife77i. For ye more comfortable subsistence of said wife and 
toward ye maintenance of my two daughters aforesaid, I hereby 
win and order that aU my cattle, either Horse kind, neat cattle, 
Sheep and Swine, tlwtt are mine in ye precmcts of ye town of New- 
port aforesaid, shal all be delivered and left in yc possession and to 
ye use of my said wife Damaris Arnold, to ye end and purpose be- 
fore exprest during her natur.al life, and after her decease what of 
ye said cattle and their in:irease shall remain, I order to ye peculiar 
use and behoof of my said daughters Godsgift Arnold and l-'reelove 
Arnold, to be speedily and equally divided between them two, tbcnr 



heirs or assigns, for stocldng theii- respective lands hereby given c* 
aforesaid. 

Item. And to ye end ye business and work may be carried oft 
ye moi-e conveniently, I order and appoint, that all ray servants of 
what sorts soever, and all my household stuif and utensils, shall be 
and remam to ye use of my said wife Damaris Arnold, during her 
natural Hfe, and after her decease what remains to be divided among 
my cliildren, to wit : to each of my daughters aforesaid, one third 
part therecjf and ye other third also to be equally divided between 
them exce])t my said wife do otherwise dispose of that part to some 
other of om' children before her death. 

Itmi. Unto my eldest and well beloved son Benedict Arnold, 
I give and bequeath half of my neck of land, being ye Southermost 
part of ye Island, called Quonanaquit, lying in Nai-raganset Bay, 
near Rhode Island, in ye colony aforesaid, ye said neck of land being 
by me named Beaver Neck, and doth contain one thousand acres, 
Bun-ounded by sea excepting where it is joined to ye rest of Quo- 
nanacut by a naiTow beach or sponge of land called Parting Beach, 
which said beach where it joineth to ye said neck is to be fenced off 
therefrom by my said son. Benedict Arnold, and a gate therein to be 
lianged or bars to be put up and down upon occasion of going or 
coniing into or out of said neck by any and every of my sons, their 
heirs and assigns, to whom I have'^beque:ithed land at ye Southern 
end ye Island, to wit : my son JosiVn Arnold, and my son Oliver 
Arnold, ordering and hereby providing that there shall be a mutual 
privilege and liberty to my said sous Benedict, Joi-iah and Oliver, 
their heirs and assigns, forever (being that these lauds will lie join- 
ing or near unto each other) to pass and repass tlii'Ough one anoth- 
er's lands on their necessary occasions, either of carting, driving cat- 
tle or ye like, as also for lishiug and fouling about ye thcres and 
creeks, and for sheltering boats or canoes in any ye ponds, coves, 
creeks or nooks of ye see, as occasion shall require from time to time, 
and also free passage to and from ye boats over each other's lands, 
they not othervase dammfieing one another by leaving open gates 
or bars or ye like ; and whereas I give and bequeath one half of 
ye said Beaver Neck unto my -son Benedict Arnold, I intend he shall 
have ye Northermost end thereof, and that the neck sr.all be equally 
divided in tv\'o, as near as may be, over thwart ye breadth of it from 
ye East shore to ye West shore, and ye fence "that shall be made 
and maintained in ye said line, three parts of four beginning at ye 
West end of sd. line shall be made an;l forever maintained by my 
son Josiah Arnold and liis heirs and assigns, and ye other fourth part 
of that line of fence shall be made and forever maintained by my 
said son Benedict Arnold and his heirs and assigns, from time to 
time, the premises to him bequeathed hfive hundred acres, bounded 
on ye South by ye aforementioned line ; on ye East by an arm of 
ye sea called Mackrell Cove ; on ye North partly by the beach end 
o^rejncutioned, and ye rest by ye pond called Eel Pond, and .y^_ 



/3 APPENDIX. 

outlet thereof iato ye sea down to ye place called Fox Hill : aa.i on 
ye West by ye sea ; a3 also to ray sai I son Benedict Arnold, I give 
end bequeath one third part of ray interest in Dutch Island, lying 
near adjacent to that part of Qurmonicut, all which, and premises, I 
will and order to ye only use, and behojf of my said son Benedict 
Arnold and his heirs and assigns forever. 

Item. Unto my beloved son Josiah Arnold aforenamed, I give 
ani bequeath a certain parcell of land, being an 1 lying in ye precincts 
of ye town of Newport abave mentioned, ye said land containing by 
estimation, four acres more or less, being eight rod in breadth from 
North to South, and eighty rod in length from East to West, bound- 
ed on ye North by laui I have bequeathed to his mother Damaria 
Arnold, &C. on ye East by land of Walter Clarke on ye S3uth in 
part by land now or late in ye possession of Thomas Ciifton or bis 
assigns and partly by ye laud above said, I bought of Wm. Haviland 
and bequeatiied to ye said Damaris Arnold, ttc. and partly by a high 
way belonging to the taid Town and on ye West by a highway be- 
longing also to ye same Town, as also to my said son Jotiah Ar- 
nold, I give and bequeath a certain parcell of land lying in ye said 
town c 'Utaiaing near a quarter of an acre, being in length North and 
South nine rod, more or less, and in breadth East and West sixty 
two feet, bounded at each end by ye street ways belonging to the said 
town and on each side by land in ye possession of Thomas Ward, aa 
also unto my said son Josiah Arnold, I give and bequeath a certain 

Eiarcell of land, being and lying on ye South end of Quononicut Is- 
md above mentioned, in ye neck of land Beaver Neck, ye premises 
containing live hundred acres and bounded as foUoweth; on ye 
North by land above given and bequeathed to my son Benedict Ar- 
nold, and on ye East, South and West, by ye sea, and therewith 
free egress and regress to and through ye said Benedict Arnold s 
land, and to and through ye land I have given to my son OUver Ar- 
nold, on occasions more particularly above expressed, to be mutually 
used and allowed by ye said Benedict Arn )ld, Josiah Arnold and 
Oliver Arnold, according to my true intent and meaning in that mat- 
ter, and together with ye aforesaid lands, I give and bequeath unto 
my said son Josiah Arnold one third part of my interest in ye island 
called Dutch Island af >re;nentioaod, all which ye premises together 
with ye priviledges, advantages and commodities thereupon, or upon 
any part or parts of ye same being or thereunto belonging or apper- 
taining, are to be and remain to ye only proper use of my s:ud son 
Josiah Arnold and liis heirs and assigns forever. 

Item. Unto ray youngest and well beloved son, Oliver Arnold 
aforenamed, I give and bequeath ye lands, tenements and heredita- 
ments hereafter mentioned that is to say, a certain parcell of land 
being and lying in ye precincts of ye aforesaid Town of Newport, 
containing one f>urth part of an acre, more or less ; being six rods in 
breadth from North to South, and bounded on ye North by ye land 
given and bequeathed to my wife Damaids Arnold, <fcc. as abovesaid 



iippBNDiJ:. 7S>> 

on yc East by ye street way or highway aforementioned belonging 
to ye said Town, on ye South by land 1 sold to Simon Parrot, and 
on ye West by ye sea or harbour of ye same Town, he ye said,, 
Oliver Arnold, his heirs and assigns, being to make and forever main- 
tain a good and sufficient fence in ye line between ye said land 
hereby granted to my s'd son Oliver Arnold, <fe ye land aforemen- 
tioned, lying on ye north side thereof which I have given unto hu 
mother, my wife Damaris Arnold as abovesaid, the South line of ye 
land hereby given to my said son Oliver Arnold, being to be made 
and forever maintained by Simon Parrot, his heirs and assigns as by 
ye deed he had of me doth appear, as also I give and bequeath unto 
my said son Oliver Arnold, a cortain tract of land being and lying 
upon ye Island of Quononiquut aforementioned, containing by esti- 
mation three hundred acres, more or less, and called Cajaset land, 
and bounded as followeth ; on ye north partly by a highway two 
rod wide, lying between ye premises and ye laud now or late in ye 
possession of Caleb Carr, senior, or his assigns and partly by land 
now or late in ye possession of ye assigns of Wm. Weeden, deceased, 
on ye West and on ye South by a ti-act of land called ye township, 
as on ye plat or diaft of ye said Island it doth appear, and on ye 
Easterly part ye premises is bounded by ye sea in ye severall 
turnings &c. of ye said land on that part thereof <fec. and also that 
with ye foresaid tract, I give and bequeath another certain tract 
of land being and lying on ye said Island Quouonicut, in a tryrmgu- 
lar form containing sixty fom- acres by ye surveyors, Plat of that Is- 
land and is bounded as followeth, that is to say, on ye North Une by 
ye 8o called Township land aforementioned, on the Easterlj' part by 
ye broad high way that goeth upon a hne North Easterly to ye said 
Township land so called and on ye South and West partly by y© 
end of ye Beach aforenamed, and partly by Eele Pond aforesaid, 
and by ye influxx thereof into ye sea, as also I give and bequeath 
unto my said son Oliver Arnold, all ye land that now is my right 
to and in said tract called ye Township ye said tract containing by 
ye sm-veyor's acco't. two hundi-ed and sixty acres my said interest 
therein being more than one third part of ye said tract as belonging 
unto my other tracts and shares and to all and evei-y of them in yo 
said Island as by me purchased and lawfully procured so that my 
B'd rights in ye said tract called ye said Township is and ought to be 
eighty three acres and upward the bounds whereof will be as yo 
committee shall appoint when they divided ye said tract to ye res- 
pective owners thereof uutill when it is however contained within 
ye tract aforesaid called the township land ; further I order that 
whereas there is supposed to be some land belonging to Franci* 
Brinley that may be forty acres which may fall in or about some 
part of ye premises to wit: forty acres belonging to a two huadreth 
part and a three hundredth part of ye said Island &c., I say for 
making up ye said forty acres to said Brinley, I order that he shall 
have forty acres of ye North part of ye ti-iangular tract of lami 



S6 APPENDIX. 

aforementioned as ones ho proposed or else some land at north end 
of said Islmd near or next to his land tliore which he earnestly de- 
sired, and to gratifie him I have procured to that end to aconiidate 
him with in way of Exchange for that aforementioned lying near 
ye premises, and I order th.it to make ye premises given to said 
Oliver Arnold five hundred acres he shall have it out of my land, 
that I bought of John Tripp, George Bliss, Edward Thurstoia, Wm. 
Gadman and Bartholomew West as by deed in writing it may ap- 

Eear under their hands and seals and being and lying in ye main 
ody of said Island, J^orthward from a tract there granted \o "Wm. 
Brentoa Eiq., deceased, by and among ye first purchasers of said 
Islands, yo names of ye persons of whom I bought ye aforesaid 
lands being written ia ye place on ye plat of said Island shewing 
where they are to lye and together with ye aforesaid land, I give and 
bequeath unto my said son Oliver Arnold one third part of my in- 
terest in ye Island called Datch Island aforementioned, and also an 
equall privile Ige as is aforepremised and ordered to either liis broth- 
ers Benedict Arnold, or Josiah Arnold, for free and mutuall egress 
and regress to and through each other's land on all occasions as are 
afore more particularly expressed, all which ye lands and priviledges 
whatever are to be and remain to ye proper use and behoof of my 
aid 3 in Oliver Arnold and his heirs and assigns forever (with ye 
houseing and building thereupon.) 

Item. I also together with ye lands on Quonanicut aforesaid given 
and bequeathed to my said sons Benedict Arnold, Josiah Arnold and 
Oliver Arnold, do by these presents give and bequeath all my cattle 
that are or may hereafter be found within any the said lands lying 
southward from ye said Caleb Carr's land whether horse kind, meat 
cattle, sheep and an3'- other sorts ye said cattle to be equally shared 
amongst them, to each of my said sons one third part to stock their 
respective lands, by these presents given and bequeathed as afore- 
said. 

Item. Whereas I have formeidy given unto my well beloved son 
Caleb Arnold, a considerable sum as by my book accounts may ap- 
pear to value of two hundred pounds sterling in current pay, yet in 
my tender respects to my said son Caleb Arnold, I domoreover 
give and bequeath a certain parcell of laud lying and being in ye 
precincts of ye Town of Newport abovesaid, containing a quarter 
of an acre more or less and boundeth as f jlloweth, that is to say, on 
ye North by land now or late in possession of ye assigns of Wm. 
Brenton Esq., deceased, on ye East by the street way belonging to 
ye said Town, on ye South by land now or late in ye possession of 
Robt. Carr een'r., and on ye West by ye harbour belonging to ye said 
Town, and together with ye premises I give and bequeath unto my 
eaid son Caleb Arnold, eight score acres of land, being and lying in the 
Island Quonanicut above mentioned, and boundeth as foUoweth, that 
is to say, on ye North and South by land in my ovni possession or in 
ye possession of my assigns at ye wi-iting hereof, on ye East by ye sea, 



APPENDIX. 



Si 



ahd on ye "West by the broad higlnvay ye premised land being and 
lying on ye east side and northern part of Qucnanicut, near to ye 
land of I'rancis Brinley, above mentioned, all which ye pvemises to- 
gether with all ye commodities thereon or thereunto properly be- 
longmg and appertaining are to be and remain to ye only proper 
use and behoof of ye said Caleb Arnold for and dining his natural 
life, or mitil his eldest son then Uving diall come to ye age of one 
and twenty years, which said son of his shall at that age enter upon 
and enjoy the premises to hmi and his lieirs forever. 

Item. Unto njy beloved daughter Damaris BJiss ye wife of John 
Bliss of Newpoit, I give and bequeath a certain parcell of land be- 
ing and lying in ye precincts of ye said Town, containing seven and 
twenty acres more or less and bounded as followeth, namely on ye 
North partly by land I sold to James Card lately, and partly by 
land in ye possession of Joseph Cai-d, on ye east partly by Joseph 
Cards land aforesaid, and more largely by land in possession of ^ il- 
liam Weeden, on ye South by land now or late in ye possession of 
the assigns of Lieut. Joseph Torry deed., and on ye West by ye 
Great Common of ye s'd Town ye premises to be and reniaui to 
ye only proper use and behoof of my said daughter Daniaiis Biisa 
and to her heii-s and assigns forever. 

Item. Unto my beloved daughter Penelope Goulding, ye wife 
of Roger Goulding I give and bequeath a certain parcell of land 
being and lying in ye precincts of ye Town aforesaid, ye said land 
by me named Scirt field, and is that wliich I purchased of ^Wm. 
Dyre sen r., now late deceased, containing by measure two and twen- 
ty acres and a half, and is b >unded as followeth, that is to say, on 
North by land in ye possession of Peleg Sanford, or his assigns, on 
ye East by ye Great Common afuiesaid as also on ye South by ye 
same common and on ye West partly by land now or late m ye 
possession of ye assigns of Wm. Dyre aforesaid, deceased, the prem- 
ises to be and remain to ye only use and behoof of my said daugh- 
ter Penelojje Goulding and her heirs forever. 

Item. I give and bequeath unto my two youngest daughters 
to wit: Godsgift Arnold and Freelove Arnold beforenamed, to each 
of them fifty pounds sterling New England silver money to be de- 
livered to each of my said daughters at ye age of twenty years on 
ye day of their respective marriages hereby adviseing them to be 
advised by their mother in that point of maniage wherein either of 
them being refractory then ye money even both of said fifty pounds 
to be deUvered to ye use of ye tibedient party in that point and ye 
same m case of ye death of either of them in ye mean time ye 
whole to ye sui'vivor is to be deUvered to her use and to no other. 

Item. What silver spoons, cups, bowls, bealjers, and porringers, 
are now mine I leave them to ye use of my eaid wife during her 
naturall hfe, or untill in her life time she shall please to give any of 
it to either our sons, daughters, gi-and-children and ye rest to be re- 
eerved and kept to ye use of such of them as my eaid v/iie shall dis- 



82 APFEI^DIX. 

pose it to be theirs after her decease. 

Item. Concerning my interest in ye purchase of Petaquamscot 
in ye Narraganset country my said interet^t being one part of seven 
of that purchase botli of land, miaei-alls, and all other the commodi- 
ties, privileges and conveniences on ye said part of ye said pui-chase 
l)eiiig or thereunto in any wise belonging or appertaining I do by 
these presents give and bequeath my said seventh part vmto my 
eaid sons Benedict Arnold, Jo^iah Arnold, and Oliver A mold, togeth- 
er with my cattle of all sorts that shall be found upon or about ye 
premises to be equally divided amongst them, to ye proper use and 
behoof of my said sons and to every of tliem theii* heu's or assigns 
respectively forever. 

Only excepting and wiUiug with ye advice and consent of ye rest 
of ye partners that some tract or tracts five miles to the 'N'orth- 
ward and Westv.ard of ye Rock called (by ye Indian natives) 
Pettaquamscot Kock, may be set apart and proposed to ye use of 
this Culony upon very easie terms for acconnnodating one or two 
Townships to be ordered and erected by ye General Assembly of 
this colony, in which said Townsliip I de-ue and order may l>e' ac- 
commodated more especially my aforesaid thj-ee sons and also -my 
son Caleb Arnold aforenamed, as also Major John Cranston, Capt 
Peleg Sanford, Capt. Roger Gouiding, Mr. James Barker Ensign, 
Jolm Bliss, Mr. John Coggeshall sen'r., with other deserving persons 
that may be proposed by ye rest of ye partners and I further will 
and order that in case ye settling of a Town or two be not effected 
yet however that my said sons together with Maj(n- Cranston, Capt 
Peleg Sanford, Capt. Roger Gouldiug, Mr. James 'Barker, and Ensign 
John Bliss, and John Coggeshall, sen'r., afores'd, shall, out of my 
own interest in ye said tracts five miles distant from ye said Rock 
called Petaquamscut Rock, each and every of them respectively 
have two hundred and fifty acres of land, in and of my said shares 
to every and either of tlieir own proper use and behoof & to ye use 
and behoof of then- heirs and assigns respectively forever, and what 
shall remain of my said part of said tract or tracts distanced from 
and not tying within ye Siiid distimce of five miles of ye said Rock 
I desire my Executors hereafter named to take care thereof and 
cause it to be disposed towards erecting and maintahiing a fiee 
school in Newport aforesaid and toward ye relief of ye poor people 
of ye said Town and to be ordered & disposed of to ye ends prom- 
ised by ye council of ye said Town & theii- successors from time to 
time forever, 

Item. For ye better execution of this my last will & Testament 
I do hereby nominate, appobt, constitute and ordain to be liiy Exe- 
cutors ye persons hereafter named to witt : my s:iid beloved wife 
Damans Arn;>ld my Executrix, and my said sons Benedict Arnold, 
Josias Arnold and Mr. James Barker sen'r., my executor, to assist in 
ye execution of this my last Will <fe Testament and what they four 
my said Executors or any three or two of them or survivors of them 



APPENDIX. 



83 



(^y said wife Damaris Arnold to be also one wlule she livctli,) shall 
do or cause to be done in or about the premises, and in order to put- 
ting this, my will, in actual execution according to ye contents and 
true intent & meaning of these presents, shall be held for firm and 
good to all intents and purposes whatever in ye law, as if I, myself, 
liad actually done the same in my own person while I was hving.— 
In witness whereof I have set my hand and seal to every page of 
this, my will and testament, and finally to ye whole contents thereof 
in this last place, this ye four and twentieth day of December, in ye 
nine and twentieth year of ye reign of our sovereign Lord, Charles 
ye second. King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland ,<fcc.. Anno 
que Domini, 1677. 

BENEDICT ARNOLD, Senior. 
Signed and sealed in ye presence of us — 
Edmond Calverly, 
WiUiam Hefferman, 
Beriah Browne. 

I, Benedict Arnold, abovenamed, senior, having by ye good gi-ace 
and favoui' of God, had my days lengthened unto tliis tune, in which 
time I havmg considered more maturely of some circumstances in 
my abovesaid will, and being and remaining thi'ough his grace in 
reasonable understanding and perfect memory, do find it necessary 
for ye regulati<ni, explanation and confirmation of my said last will 
and testament, I add as foUoweth : as to ye place above appointed for 
my interment, being at ye North East corner of ye three rod square, 
appointed for a bmying place abovesaid, I do order and appoint that 
I and my wife may be buried in ye three rod square, as near as con- 
veniently may be, "at ye East end of the tomb, there erected on my 
Grand-child, Damaris Goulthng's grave abovesaid, myself on ye Noit]\ 
and my said wife on ye South side of me, and that my kindi-ed re- 
lations nmy as they die be buiied at convenient distance around 
al)out my grave. 

Now, whereas, in ye fii-st article of my last will that concerneth 
ye disposition of my lands in Quononicut, it is said that my eldest 
son, Benechct Arnold, Jun'r, shall have for his part in ye middle of 
ye neck of land called Beaver Neck, having hereby ordered that as 
he is ye first in nomination to whom I have disposed of land in ye 
said neck, so he shah be ye first in situation, and at ye South end of 
ye said neck, Avhich said part of said neck containeth by estimation 
five hundred acres, be they more or less, and is to be divided in all 
equahty from the remaining part of ye said neck by one straight fine 
of fence, beiag at ye Eastern side thereof, so to run over to ye West- 
ern shore on a straight fine from sea to sea, and ye said line of 
fence to be made and forever maintained by ye said Benedict Ar- 
nold, Jr., and the heirs occupant of ye said land ; and whereas it is 
said in ye second article concerning ye premises that my sen Josiali 
Arnold aforesaid should have his sd. (third part) share of ye said 
neck at ye South end thereof, he shall have his on ye North side of 
15 



84 APPENDIX. 

and adjoining unto Benedict Arnold, Jun's., aforesaid share, upon ye 
South and from thence to extend Northward up to ye pond called 
Eel Pond, which said pond is ye Northern bounds of his, ye said Jo^ 
siah Arnold's, share, and he ye said Josiah Ai-nold is to secm-e him- 
self on ye North and Eastern pai-ts by fence or otherwise, and fi-om 
aad to ye Northward of said pond, called Eel Pond home to ye 
highway of two rods wide that lyeth between Caleb Can-'s land & the 
premises within which tract is contain'd my faim called Cajaset farm^ 
my dweUing house & other houses ah-eady erected, all which my said 
houseing and land shall be ye proper share and inheritance of my 
son Oliver Arnold, and if it shall appear that there is not land enough 
in that said tract to make his share five himdi-ed acres equal with 
the rest, he shall have so much land as to make it up according as 
in an article to this effect is more plainly described to ye Northwai'd 
of ye premises, to be always to be vmderstood that ye privileges and 
communities that are ordered that they, ye said Benedict Ai-nold, 
Jun., Josiah Arnold and Ohver Arnold, are to have in, upon or 
tJii-ough each other's respective lands shall be duly obsei*ved by each 
of them respectively, according to ye i-ules set down in a former ar- 
ticle concerning that matter, with this fui'ther additional proviso, that 
they, ye said thi-ee brothers or either of them shall not alienate by 
sale or othei-wise ye property of any part of thek foresaid land* 
from theu- heus by these presents given and granted unto them as 
in a foregoing ai'ticle relating to ye premises is more plainly ex 



Signed and sealed in ye BENEDICT ARNOLD, Senior, 

presence of us afore-named, 
&c. «fec. 



[The copy of the above wiU from which we have piinted is one be 
longing to David Melville, Esq., (who kindly lent it to us,) taken by 
Wm. Coddington Jr., Council Clerk, in 1752, from Town Council Book 
No. 2 (the fii'st record of the will, now probably lost forever.)] 



Editor's Note. — Arnold, on page 16, speaks of a farm which he 
calls his Lemmington fai-m. The coincidence may be worth men 
tioning that the Old Mill in owr frontispiece is only five miles from 
Leamington, in the west of England, from which part we have ascer 
tained that the Arnolds came. 



APPENDIX. gS 



EDWARD PELHAMS WILL. 

I'll the name of God, I, Edward Pelham, of Newport, iii the couii 
ty of Nf^wport, in the Colony of Rhode-Island and Providence Plan 
tations, in New-England, Gentleman, being of good and perfect 
mind and understanding, do make this, my last Will and Testament, 
in manner following : First I commit my soul to God that gave it, 
and my body to the earth. 

Item. I do hereby order and appoint, that my lot or parcel of 
land situate, lying and being in Newport aforesaid, containing about 
Ihi-ee acres, and called or known by the name of the Lower Field, 
bounded as foUoweth, Easterly upon a street or highway, leading 
into the neck. Southerly upon land in the possession of Peter Cog- 
geshall, Westerly partly upon laud in possession of Hezekiah Car- 
penter and John Banister, and partly upon a yard and garden ad- 
joining to my now dwelling-house, and Northerly partly upon said 
yard and garden, and partly on a lane or liighway commonly called 
Caleb Can-'s land, or however otherwise butted and bounded, shall 
be laid out into house-lots, and such and so many of them shall be 
sold by my Executors, as will be sufficient to pay off and satisfy all 
ye just dues and debts that shall be due and owing to any person 
or persons at ye time of my decease. 

Item. I do hereby order and appoint that my well-beloved wife, 
Arabella Pelham, shall have ye possession and benefit of my now 
dwelling-house, out-house or kitchen-yai-d and gardens hereimto be- 
longing, scituate, lying and being in Newport aforesaid, bounded East- 
erly and Southerly, partly on land that I have herein before ordered 
to be laid out into lots and sold, and also Southerly, partly on a lot 
herein after bequeathed unto my beloved daughter Hemiione, the 
wife of John Biinister of Newport aforesaid. Merchant, Westerly on 
Thames-street partly, and partly on land and shops in ye occupation 
of Robert Duncan, Mordecai Dunbar, Benjamin Wilson and William 
King, Northerly partly upon land belonging to John Brown and part- 
ly upon said Caleb Carr's land and partly upon Land belonging to 
and in ye present occupation of Charles Smith, James Green, Timo- 
thy Peckham Jr., and Mary Channing, widow, and to run East so fai- 
jis ye stone wall at the head of my upper garden, for and dm-ing th.' 
term of her natm-al life, and I do hereby give and bequeath unto mV 
said wife Arabella Pelham all my household goods, implements and 
utensils of household (my silver tankard only excepted) a negro gu-I 
jiamed Margaret, one horse or mare which she will please to choose 
out of my stock at my farm in the Neck, and one cow, and both to 
be pastui'ed in ye summer at said farm if my wife shall send them 
there for that pm-pose, and to be provided for with hay in the win- 
J,er from said farm, and I do further give unto my said wife Arabel- 
la Pelham for and during the term of her natm*al life the sum of two 



CO APPENDIX. 

hmidred pounds iii current bills of publick credit per ann. in lieu of her 
thirds and right of dower to be paid by my two beloved daughters 
Elizabeth Pelham and Penelope Pelham to then- said motJier in 
equal proportion out of ye rents and issues of the legacies I havo 
hereinafter bequeathed them, or whoever shaU hereafter enjoy ye 
-ame, by even half-yearly payments dm-ing the term afores'd. 

Item. I give and bequeath to my said beloved daughter, Her- 
mioue, all that lot of laud on which the dwelling house of the said 
John Banister now standeth, in Newport aforesaid, and the yard and 
garden thereunto belonging being from Thames street about one 
himdred feet back, and to extend Northeiiy upon a paralel line with 
the rear of the lot I sold to Major Hezekiah Carpenter, bounded as 
followeth : — Easterly, partly upon my said yard and partly upon the 
land that I have before ordered to be laid out into lots. Southerly 
upon the said lott sold to Hezekiah Carjjenter but now in the pos- 
sesion of David Melvill, AVe.-,terly ujx)n said Thames street and 
x^ortherly partly upon my garden and yard, ye North side of said 
dwellmg house to be the North bounds from said Thames street 
uj3on a dii-ect line to the East to the rear of said lot to be and re- 
main to the said Hermione Banister her heirs and assigns and to her 
and their proper use and behoof forever. I also give and bequeath 
to my said daughter Hermione one other lot or parcell of land in 
Newport aforesaid fronting on Thames street, seventy-eight feet or 
thereabout, adjoining and of the same dimensions with a lot of land 
already belonging to the said John Banister, bounded as followeth : 
East upon said Thames street, South upon the said lot of the said 
John Banister, West upon the Salt water or harbor of Newport, 
and North upon a lot of land that I shall hereinafter bequeath tt/ 
juy daughter Elizabeth Pelham. And also one other piece or par- 
cell of land situate lying and being in Newport aforesaid containing 
eight acres or thereabout, with an Old Stone Wind-Mill thereon stand- 
ing and beiug commonly called or known by the name of the Mill 
Field, or Upper Field, bounded as followeth : — Easterly upon land 
now or late in the possession of Josias Coggeshall and Jacob Barney, 
Southerly partly upon land now or late in the possession of Major 
James Brown, and partly upon land in the possession of Peter 
Coggeshall, Westerly partly upon land in jr.osse&sion of the said 
Peter Coggeshall, and partly upon tlie .said street or highway that 
leads into the Neck, Northerly partly upon ye said Caleb Carr 8 
hind, partly upon a work-house standing in said lane, and partly 
upon a burying place — to the Northward thereof stands a meeting 
house — and to be and remain to the said Hermione Banister and to 
the heirs of her body lawfully issuing. 

Item. I give, devise and bequeath unto my said daughter Eliza- 
beth Pelham all that my farm or tract of land situate lying and 
being in Newport aforesaid commonly called or known by the name 
of Lemington containing by estimation one hundred and sixty acres 
or thereabout butted and bounded as followeth, Easterly on land be- 



APPENDIX. 'Slf 

longing to John Brown, Southerly on land partly belonging to the 
said John BroAvn and partly to Jahleel Brenton, Westerly on land 
belonging to ye said Jahleel Brenton, and Northerly partly on ye salt 
water or harboui* of Newport and partly upon land belonging to the 
said John Brown, together with the dwelling house and all the build 
ings and improvements, and also the stock that shall be thereon ai 
ye time of my decease (except the Horse or Mare and Cow, that 1 
have herein before bequeathed to her said mother) she paying out 
of the rents and issues of the said premises to her said mother Ai-a- 
bella Pelham, the sum of one hundred pounds in good and passable 
pubhck bills of credit of said colony every year by even half yearly 
payment for and dm-ing the term of the natm-al life of her said 
mother. And I likewise give uuto my said daughter Ehzabeth, one 
other lot or parcell of land scituate lying and being m Newport 
afoi-esaid, fronting on Thames Street, seventy eight feet or there- 
about adjoining to a lot of land herein before given to my said daugh 
ter Hermione Banister bounded as followeth: — East upon said 
Thames street, South upon said lot of land last mentioned. West 
upon the salt water or harbor of Newport, and Northerly upon a lot 
of land that I shall hereinafter bequeath to my said daughter Pene 
lope Pelham, together with all my right and interest in the buildings 
on said lot erected, all of which premises shall be and remain to my 
said daughter Elizabeth Pelham, and the heirs of her body lawfully 
issuing. And I also give my said daughter Elizabeth Pelham my 
Negro man named Jupiter to her own proj^er use and behoof 

Item. I give and devise and bequeath to my said daugliter Pen- 
elope PeUiam, after ye decease of her mother, all that lot or parcell 
of land with my now dwelhng house, out-house or kitchen, and the 
yard and garden thereunto belonging, scituate lying and being in 
Newport afores'd and herein before described, the possession and 
benefit whereof is herein before given to her said mother for and 
during the term of her natural hfe, with ye buildings and improve- 
juents thereon made. And I further give and bequeatli to my said 
daughter Penelope all my land in Thames street m ye present occu- 
pation of ye s'd Robert Dimcan, Mordecai Dunbar, Benjamin Wilson 
and William King and on Caleb Carr's land in ye present occupa 
tion of je s'd John Browm, Charles Smith, James Green, Tunothv 
Peckham, jun'r and Mary Chamung, as high till it comes upon a par 
alell line with the stone wall at ye head of my upper garden run- 
ning North therefrom, together with my right and interest in any 
buildings thereon and the rents, issues, profits thereof And I d« > 
also hereby give devise and bequeath unto my said daughter Pone 
lope one other lot of land scituate lying and being in Newport afuit- 
s'd, fronting on Thames street, seventy-eight feet or thereabouts, 
bounded as followeth : — East upon Thames street. Southerly upon 
ye lot bequeathed to my said daughter Elizabeth, Westerly upon 
ye Salt water or Harbor of Newport, and Northeriy upon land be 
longing to the heirs of Charles TUunghast, dec'd. Together with v=- 
wharf and ^varehouses thereon erected and all my rrglit find int.' i 
10 



0» APPENWX. 

est in all tlic other buildiugs thereon. All which promises shall br 
and remain to my said daughter Penelope Pelham and the heirs of 
her body lawfully issuing, slie paying out of ye rents and issues of 
the said premises to her said mother Arabella Pelham the sum ol' 
one hundred poimds in good and passable bills of publick credit of 
said colony every year by half yearly payments for and during the 
term of ye natui-al life of her said mother. And I also give my said 
daughter Penelope Pelham my Negro man named Frank and my 
silver tankard with the arms of ye family thereon, to her own prop 
or use and behoof. 

Item. I do hereby order and appoint that after my said Execu- 
tors have sold lo4s sufficient to discharge ye just dues and debts 
that shall be owing at ye time of my decease, the remaining lotts 
shall be equally divided between my daughters Hermionc Banister 
and Penelope Pelham, and then to be and remain to each of them 
and the respective heirs of their bcnly lawfully issuing And also 
tliat if either of my daughters shall die without issue, th:it the estate 
of her so dying shall descend to and be equally divided an\ongst yo- 
survivors and be and remain to each of them and ye respective heu's 
of their bodies lawfully issuing as aforesaid. 

ftem. I give and bequeath unto my loving fiiend James Martiiy, 
of Newport afores'd. Gentleman, the sum of thirty pounds in good 
and passable bills of public credit of s'd Colony to be paid him by 
luy Executors, in a conveniout time after my decease. 

And lastly, I make and ordain my said wife Arabella Pelham, the 
said John IBanister, James Martin, and John Bonnet, of Newport 
afores'd. Tanner, Executors of this my last will and testament for 
the intents and purposes therein contained and to see ye same per- 
formed according to my true intent and moaning and I give to each 
f»f them a mourning ring. In witness whereof I, ye said Edward 
Pelham, have to this my last will and testam.ent set my hand and 
seal the twenty-first day of May Anno Dom. one thousand seven 
hundred and forty, and in ye thirteenth year of ye reign of our Sov- 
ereign Lord, George ye Second, King of Great Britain, (tc. 

EDWARD PELHAM. 
Signed, sealed, published, pronounced and declared <tc. 
J^uiEs Robinson, 
RoBT. Duncan, 
Jos. Fox. 



[The above is printed from the original will.] 



APPENDIX. ^«^ 

c 

PROFESSOR RAFN'S LETTER. 

Copenhagen, Jamiary, ^ih, 1848. 
t)avid Melville, Esq., Newport R. I. 

Sir:— Your letter of the 12th of August with the Herald of the 
Times and Rhode Islander of August 6th, 1847, 1 duly received a ' 
few days ago. 

I beg to return you my thanks for the communication transmitted, 
and deem it my duty to inform you that the ailicle which lately ap 
peared in your journals on the subject of the ancient structui-e in 
Newport is from beginning to end a downright fabrication, no awh 
report having ever been made to the Royal Society of Northern An- 
tiquaries as the one alluded to ; the persons mentioned in the article, 
too, Bishop Oeh-ischer, Professors Scrobein, Graetz, &c., are all Jlcti- 
fimis characters, there never having existed here individuals bearing 
those names. Thus the entire notice is nothing more than a fiction, 
the object of which is to mystify the public. 

It were to be wished tliat such of the American jom-nals as have 
admitted the article in question into their columns, w^ould apprize the 
pubhc of its entire falsity. 

In 1837 I published, on behalf of om- Society, the Old Northern 
sources to the Ante-Columbian history of America in the work tn 
titled ANTIQUITATES AMERICAN./E. Taking the astronomi- 
cal, nautical and geographical evidences contained in the ancient i-ee- 
cords themselves for a groundwork, I have endeavored to prove that 
om- Scandinavian fore-fathers in the tenth century discovered a pw- 
tion of the eastern coast of North America, and in particular visited 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Inquirers of the greatest celebrity 
here in Europe, have looked upon the arguments used by mp as con- 
clusive, among whom I may mention Alexander Humboldt, in his re- 
cently published Kosmos vol. II. page 269— 272, where he considers 
the results of my investigations as historical facts fully demonstrated. 
At the time when I pubUshed the work above alluded to, I was 
not aware of the ancient structm-e in Newport, which consequently 
camiot have led in the remotest degree to the results deduced, nor is 
there a single word said about it in my work, which moreover is to 
be met with in most of the larger hbraries in America, as well as in 
Europe, and thus opens an easier access to the study of the original 
written som-ces themselves. The right interpretation of the accounts 
in the ancient parchment copies clearly proves that it was precisely 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island which the ancient Scandinavians 
visited and where they established themselves. The agreement ot 
the astronomical, nautical and geogi-aphical evidences leads, in this re- 
spect, to so certain a result that doubtless nothing further is requned. 
The earlv monuments which are met with in those regions, unque* 



90 APPENDIX. 

Honably merit the attention of the investigator, but we must be cau 
tious in regard to the inferences to be drawn from them. 

Concerning the ancient structm-e in Newport, (of which we had n»> 
j^revious knowledge whatever,) we first received a communication on 
the 22d of May 1839, from Thomas H. Webb, M. D., (now of Boston- 
formerly of Providence) which is inserted in om' Memoires des Anti- 
quaii-es du Nord 1836 — 1839 page 361, and I feel assured that who, 
I'ver reads that article will therein disceni all the caution wliich a 
scientific investigation demands, and all the respect due to an institu- 
tion which has acquu'ed confidence in and out of Em'ope. From the 
drawings transmitted to us by a trust- worthy hand, om* ablest judges 
skilled in the liistoiy of arcliitecture, have pronounced the architec- 
tural style of the building to be that of the 12 th centuiy, fi-om which 
period a structure exactly corresponding has been pointed out, along 
with others in the same style. It is difficult however, without bemg 
on the spot, to offer any decided opinion as to the period to which the 
sti'uctui'e itself is to be refeired, nor has any one here ventm-ed to do 
so. Here, in the North, no wind-mills occur of this constniction, and 
a gentleman distinguished for his knowledge in the progi-essive his- 
tory of the arts, and who has travelled much in Europe, has declared 
f/iat he never met ivith any such. It would seem better therefore to 
leave the matter undecided until further information can be obtained, 
liut even supposing that the origin of this and other monimients 
cannot be ascertained with precision, this in no way affects the sta- 
bihty of the historical fact deduced fi-oni the ancient manuscripts, 
that the Scandinavians iu the tenth century, discovered and estab- 
lished themselves iu Rhode Island and Massachusetts; in proof of 
which no other testimony is required than v.hat is afforded by the 
ancient records themselves. Om* Society would be glad to receive 
trust-worthy connnunications on the subject of Ante-Columbian monu- 
ments of America, to be preserved in the American section of the 
Society's historico-archaological archives, and also for insertion in their 
Memoires, in as far as they may be suited for the pm-pose. Such ar- 
ticles as the one you have" made kno\vn to us, merit no place within 
the pale of science, and we are glad to observe that by you also, thev 
are estimated according to their deserts. 

I have the honor to be, sir. 

Your obedient sei-vant, 

Charles C. Raf.n, 
Secrv, R. S. N. A. 



APPENDIX. 



91 



PosTCEiPT. — On page 66 (near tlie top) we left it imcertain what 
Arnold's motive was for removing fi-om Providence to Newport. It 
may amuse those who have seen Thames St. in Newport to know 
(what we have recently learned) that the cause of his leaving Provi- 
dence was his dissatisfaction with the building of certain warehouse* 
which naiTowed the main street, whereupon he came to Newport an<l 
laid out Thames Street a hundred feet wide. 



Note of Acknowledgement. — We take this opportiuiity to ex- 
press our obligations to Hon. Henry B. Anthony, (from whom we 
received the much desired engraving given below,) David Melville 
:md William C. Gibbs, Esq's., and all the friends who have aided U8. 
by infomiation or suggestion in the preparation of a w^ork, of inoif 
difficulty than at first would appear. 




OLD BAPTISTERY NEAR MELLIFONT ABBEY, IRELAND. 
(See Page 61.) 



Pagt' -T', lino "JT for ■•les's" road '•not loss.'* 

21 " 4 " "that my" " "of my." 

43 '• 29 " "will" '• "well.'' 

47 " 17 " "jt'r" " "jeer." 

54 The 9th line of the quotation iii the >'. 



4K>uld read : — 

•' Did thn* the astonished Indian jraze 



»u rh< 



sd 



6 6i^ 



J 










jT. AUGUSTINE 



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